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FIRST   PRESBYTERIAN   CHURCH   IN   PHILADELPHIA.,  '(1698  TO  1898),  ERECTED 

IN  1821,  (WASHINGTON  SQUARE). 

REV.  ALBERT  BARNES,  PASTOR,  1830  TO  1SV0. 


1698.  1898. 

EXERCISES 


BICENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 


FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


PHILADELPHIA. 


Sabbath  Morning,  November  13,  to  Friday  Evening, 
November  18,  1898, 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESS  OF  HENRY  B.  ASHMEAD. 

1900. 


CONTENTS. 


PACE 

Prayer — Rev.  Matthew  P.  Grier,  D.D., 9 

Prayer — Rev.  J.  M.  Crowell,  D.D., 10 

The  Pastor, 11 

►Sermon  —  "  Presbyterian   Doctrine,"    Rev.   Francis  L.  Patton, 

D.D.,  LL.D., 13 

Prayer— The  Pastor, 30 

8abbath-School  Celebration, 32 

Prayer— The  Pastor, 32 

History  of  the  Sabbath-School — Mr.  George  Griffiths,        .  33 

The  Superintendent, 39 

Address — Rev.  Francis  L.  Patton,  D.D.,  LL.D.,          ...  39 

The  Superintendent, 44 

Address— Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,   ....  45 

The  Superintendent, 50 

Invocation — The  Pastor, 51 

Prayer — Rev.  Leonard  W.  Bacon,  D.D., 51 

The  Pastor, 53 

The  Pastor, 54 

Address — "The  Presbyterian  Bulwarks  of  Liberty  and  Law," 

Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D., 54 

Prayer  by  the  Pastor, 78 

The  Pastor, 79 

Prayer — Rev.  Alfred  H.  Kellogg,  D.D., 79 

Historical  Sketch — The  Pastor, 81 

Address — "The  Pulpit  of  the  First  Church,"   Rev.  George  T. 

Purves,  D.D.,  LL.D., 92 


4  Contents. 

PAGE 

Prayer — Rev.  William  H.  Roberts,  D.D.,  LL.D.,      .        .        .        .111 

Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D., 113 

Address— Rev.  Wallace  Radcliffe,  P.D., 113 

Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D., ;        .lis 

Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D., 119 

Address — Rev.  George  W.  Chalfant,  D.D., 119 

Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D., 124 

Address— Rev.  Stephen  W.  Dana,  D.D., 124 

Prayer — Rev.  Wallace  Radcliffe,  D.D., 129 

Prayer  by  the  Pastor,, 131 

Prayer — Rev.  Edward  B.  Hodge,  D.D., 131 

The  Pastor, 133 

Address — "Greetings  of  the  Protestant    Episcopal  Church," 

The  Right  Rev.  O.  W.  Whitaker,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  .        .        .        .133 

The  Pastor,      . 138 

Address  —  "Greetings  of  the  University   of    Pennsylvania," 

Charles  C.  Harrison,  LL.D., 138 

The  Pastor, 142 

The  Pastor, 143 

Address — "Greetings  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  Rev. 

Wallace  MacMullen,  D.D., .  143 

The  Pastor, 151 

Prayer — Rev.  J.  Sparhawk  Jones,  D.D., 151 

The  Pastor,      .        .                 L~>3 

Address — "Greetings  of  the  Congregational  Church,"  Rev.  A. 

J.  F.  Behrends,  D.D.,       . 153 

The  Pastor, 163 

A  miress — "Greetings  of  the  Baptist  Church,"  Rev.  Kerr  Boyce 

Tupper,  D.D.,  LL.D., 1(54 

The  Pastor, 174 


THE  PRESENT  ORGANIZATION. 


PASTOR. 
GEORGE   D.  BAKER,  D.D. 

ELDERS. 
SAMUEL  C.   PERKINS,   LL.D.,  GEORGE  GRIFFITHS, 

NORRIS   W.   HARKNESS,  GEORGE  T.  HARRIS, 

RICHARD   B.   BRINTON,   Jr. 


DEACONS. 


L.  BREWER  HALL,  M.D., 
FRANK   M.  BRASELMANN, 
PHILIP   H.  WHITE, 


JOHN   M.  IRWIN, 
GEORGE  C.  PRINCE, 
WILLIAM   F.  SCHOELL. 


TRUSTEES. 


GEORGE  GRIFFITHS, 
A.  R.  PERKINS, 
RICHARD   B.  BRINTON,  Jr., 
JOHN  S.  MARTIN, 


WILLIAM   McLEAN, 
S.  M.  LILLIE, 
JOHN  W.  FAIRES,  D.D., 
GEORGE  T.  HARRIS, 


GEORGE  E.  WEBB. 


ORGANIST  AND  CHOIR  MASTER. 

SHEPARD   K.  KOLLOCK. 


PASTORS 


FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN"   CHURCH 


PHILADELPHIA. 


FROM  TO 

1701  JEDEDIAH  ANDREWS.  1747 

1739  ROBERT  CROSS,   A.M.  1766 

1752  FRANCIS  ALISON,   D.D.  1779 

Vice  Provost,  and 

Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  the 

College  of  Philadelphia. 

1759  JOHN  EWING,  D.D.  1802 

Provost,  and 

Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  the 

University  of  Pennsylvania. 

1801  JOHN  BLAIR  LINN,   D.D.  1804 

A  young  man 
<>f  genius  and  great  promise. 

1806  JAMES  P.   WILSON,   D.D.  1830 

For  many  years,  a  distinguished  Jurist ; 

Subsequently  an  able  Divine. 

A  profound  Scholar,  and  eminent  Christian ; 

faithful  alike  in  the  performance  of 

his  public  and  social  duties ; 

of  manners  dignified  and  refined ; 

Beloved  by  his  people  ; 

Respected  by  all ; 

An  honor  to  his  Country,  to  the  Church, 

and  to  the  Age. 

1830  ALBERT  BARNES.  1870 

1868  HERRICK  JOHNSON,   D.D.  1873 

1874  LAWRENCE  M.  COLFELT.  1884 

1885  GEORGE   D.   BAKER,   D.D. 


BI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 


SABBATH  MORNING, 

NOVEMBER  13,  1898. 


HYMN  80. — (Presbyterian  Hymnal.) 
PRAYER.— Rev.  Matthew  P.  Grier,  D.D. 

Lord,  Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all  generations. 
Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  Thou  hadst 
formed  the  earth  and  the  world,  Thou  art  God,  and  hast  been 
God  over  all,  blessed  forever.  In  the  midst  of  the  years  we  re- 
member Thee.  We  lift  up  our  hearts  to  Thee,  O  Thou  Eternal 
Dweller  in  the  heavens.  We  praise  Thee  for  Thy  goodness,  for 
Thy  loving  tenderness  and  mercy,  which  have  been  ever  of  old. 
Hear  us  this  day,  O  God  of  our  fathers.  Hear  us  as  we  praise 
Thee,  and  magnify  Thee,  and  glorify  Thy  great  name  for  Thy 
great  goodness.  Bless  us,  O  Lord,  with  Thy  favor  and  with 
Thy  love,  and  guide  us  through  all  the  services  of  this  day  and 
of  this  week,  that  Thy  name  may  be  glorified  and  the  souls  of 
men  benefited  thereby.  We  ask  these  things  in  the  name  of 
Him  who  has  taught  us  to  pray,  saying,  "  Our  Father,"  etc. 

SCRIPTURAL  READING.— Psaem  XL VIII. 

ANTHEM.—"  The  Magnificat."— Hopkins. 

SCRIPTURAL  READING.— Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Gospel  by  John,  first  chapter. 

9 


10  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

PRAYER— Eev.  J.  M.  Crowell,  D.D. 

O  Lord  God  Almighty,  Thou  dwellest  in  the  high  and  holy 
places.  We  come  to  worship  Thee  in  Thy  holy  court.  We 
bless  Thee  that  Thou  hast  made  Thyself  known  unto  us. 
Though  Thou  art  exalted  high  upon  Thy  throne  in  glory,  yet 
Thou  hast  taken  up  Thy  dwelling  with  Thy  people  on  earth, 
and  in  every  humble  and  contrite  heart.  We  come  before  Thee 
to-day  to  bring  Thee  our  thanksgiving  and  our  praises.  We 
come  before  Thee  with  the  voice  of  thankful  song,  as  we  call  to 
mind  the  days  of  the  past,  the  years  of  ancient  time,  and  com- 
.memorate  the  goodness  and  the  grace  of  God  which  has  so 
abundantly  crowned  the  past  history  of  this  beloved  church. 
O  Lord,  our  God,  we  bless  Thee  for  the  way  in  which  Thou 
hast  dealt  with  Thy  people  of  this  church,  for  the  way  in  which 
Thou  hast  led  them  through  these  two  hundred  years  which 
have  gone.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  noble  record  of  godly, 
faithful,  able  pastors,  after  Thine  own  heart,  whom  Thou  didst 
give  to  this  people  to  feed  them  with  knowledge  and  with  under- 
standing. We  thank  Thee  for  their  blessed  and  prolific  minis- 
try, for  their  agency  in  establishing  the  church  here  upon  a  good 
foundation,  in  building  up  Thy  people  in  their  holy  faith,  in 
winning  many  souls  to  the  Lamb  of  God.  We  render  Thee 
grateful  praise  for  the  goodly  company  of  faithful  officers  of  the 
church  whom  Thou  hast  raised  up  during  its  history,  to  bless  the 
people  by  their  faithful  service,  to  sustain  the  hands  of  their 
pastors  and  to  set  a  godly  example  for  those  before  whom  they 
lived;  and  we  render  Thee  praise,  O  God,  for  the  great  host  of 
Thy  redeemed  saints  whom  Thou  didst  call  and  justify  and 
sanctify  and  glorify,  who  served  Thee  here  on  earth  in  connection 
with  this  church,  in  their  beautiful  and  consistent  Christian  life, 
in  their  many  ways  of  holy  living  and  of  generous  giving  and 
of  faithful  service,  until  at  last  they  entered  in  through  the 
gates  into  the  city,  and  are  now  at  rest  and  at  home  with  God. 
We  thank  Thee  for  all  that  has  been  accomplished  through  the 
agency  of  this  church  in  the  different  periods  of  its  history,  for 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  1 1 

the  streams  of  beneficence  which  it  has  sent  out  into  the  world 
to  purify  and  sanctify  and  save  it,  and  for  all  the  blessed  influ- 
ences which  it  has  sent  forth  in  this  great  city  and  community. 
And  now,  as  we  stand  at  the  end  of  this  time  of  blessing,  we 
look  forward  into  the  future,  and  commit  this  church  to  Thy 
gracious  care  and  love  for  the  days  to  come.  Surely  Thy  people 
can  say,  as  one  of  old,  "  Thou  hast  been  mindful  of  us.  Thou 
wilt  bless  us."  This  God,  whom  our  fathers  served  and  trusted, 
will  be  our  God  forever  and  forever.  Thou  wilt  be  our  guide 
even  unto  death.  O  God,  we  beseech  Thee  that  Thou  wilt 
watch  over  the  interests  of  this  church,  and  may  it  be  enabled 
to  accomplish  far  more  in  the  days  to  come  than  it  has  in  the 
days  that  have  gone.  Direct  and  bless  and  help  them  in  all 
their  operations  of  Christian  service,  in  all  the  different  works 
of  beneficence  in  which  they  are  engaged.  Especially  bless  Thy 
beloved  servant,  their  present  pastor.  Grant  unto  him  grace 
and  wisdom,  that  he  may  accomplish  well  the  duty  laid  upon 
him,  that  he  may  serve  Thee  faithfully.  Give  unto  him  the  joy 
of  winning  many  souls  for  his  Saviour.  And  we  pray  that  Thou 
wilt  bless  all  that  is  done  in  this  church  for  the  advancement  of 
Thy  kingdom  and  glory.  So  bless  all  the  churches  of  Christ 
in  this  great  city,  throughout  the  land  and  throughout  the 
world.  We  commit  to  Thee  the  interests  of  the  church  uni- 
versal. We  pray  that  Thou  wilt  comfort  Zion,  that  Thou  wilt 
comfort  all  her  waste  places  and  make  her  wilderness  like  Eden 
and  her  desert  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord,  so  that  joy  and  glad- 
ness may  be  found  therein,  thanksgiving  and  the  voice  of  melody. 
And  upon  all  that  is  undertaken  in  Thy  name  and  through  faith 
in  Thee  by  Thy  Church  on  earth,  let  the  beauty  of  the  Lord 
rest,  and  establish  Thou  the  work  of  Thy  people's  hands — yea, 
the  work  of  their  hands,  establish  Thou  it ;  and  unto  God  Al- 
mighty, the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  shall  be 
the  glory  everlasting.     Amen. 

THE  PASTOR. 
You  have  in  your  hands  the  order  of  services  for  the  week, 


12  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

and  this  renders  it  unnecessary  for  me  to  give  them  in  detail 
and  so  take  unnecessarily  precious  time.  This  afternoon  we 
shall  have  our  Sabbath-school  celebration,  which  I  think  will 
be  of  unusual  interest,  with  addresses  by  Drs.  Patton  and 
Johnson ;  and  this  evening  Dr.  Johnson,  whom  so  many  of  you 
know,  a  former  pastor  of  this  church,  will  preach.  To-morrow 
evening  will  be  the  historical  evening ;  but  I  will  not  enumerate 
the  services,  as  I  have  said,  in  detail.  You  will  take  this  booklet 
home  with  you,  I  trust  be  interested  in  it,  and,  led  by  it,  come 
yourselves  to  these  services,  and  make  them  known  to  others, 
that  they  may  have  the  pleasure  and  profit  which  I  believe  are 
to  be  derived  from  them.  Our  offering  this  morning,  according 
to  the  notice  which  you  find  upon  the  order  of  exercises,  is  for 
the  increasing  of  the  endowment  fund  of  the  church,  that  \vu 
may  be  better  able  to  do  the  work  in  this  neighborhood  which 
God  has  given  us  to  do.  Whatever  offerings  may  be  made 
throughout  the  week  will  be  thus  applied.  There  may  be  some 
who,  when  they  know  that  we.  have  almost  or  quite  $100,000 
already  in  our  endowment  fuud,  will  ask,  why  do  you  need 
more?  Simply  because  our  work  is  increasing  more  and  more. 
Simply  because  we  are  ambitious  to  do  more  than  we  are  able  to 
do  now  with  the  money  at  our  command.  When  we  were 
raising  our  present  endowment  fund,  I  had  an  interview  with 
Mr.  Alexander  Brown,  who  gave  very  liberally  to  it,  and  who 
said  to  me,  "You  will  not  stop  when  the  $100,000  mark  is 
reached  ?"  I  said,  "  I  don't  know."  He  said,  "  You  must 
not.  You  will  make  a  great  mistake  if  you  do.  That  is  a 
comparatively  small  sum  for  a  church  like  yours,  with  the 
work  that  it  has  to  do.  The  income  to  be  derived  from  it  is  not 
large,  and  it  will  be  smaller  as  the  years  go  on.  In  order  to 
safely  invest  it,  you  must  be  willing  to  take  small  amounts  com- 
paratively of  interest."  I  believe  that  God  has  a  greater  work 
for  this  church  to  do.  It  is  standing  nobly,  under  trying  cir- 
cumstances, endeavoring  to  do  its  whole  duty,  and  in  my  soul  I 
believe  that  whoever  contributes  to  this  endowment  fund,  and  so 
enables  it  to  stand  through  the  years  to  come  and  to  stand  as  it 


Fh'.st  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  13 

ought  to  stand,. fully  equipped,  will  be  rendering  a  service  to 
God  beautiful  and  lasting.  So  the  offering  now  will  be  made. 
There  are  cards  in  the  pews.  If  any  here  present  should  desire 
to  give  more  than  they  may  have  in  their  pocket-books  at  this 
present  time,  they  may  place  the  amount  upon  the  card,  and  pay 
it  at  their  own  convenience,  after  a  month,  or  six  months,  or  a 
year,  as  it  may  please  them.     The  offering  will  be  made. 


OFFERTORY  (for  the  Bi-Centennial  Fund).— "The  Lord  is  My 
Shepherd." — Smart. 


SERMON.  —  "  Presbyterian   Doctrine." 
Rev.  Francis  L.  Patton,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

President  of  Princeton  University. 

You  will  find  the  words  of  the  text  in  the  first  chapter  of  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John,  fourteenth  verse : 

"  And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us,  (and 
we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father,)  full  of  grace  and  truth." 

There  are  certain  doctrines  that  are  peculiar  to  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church.  There  are  other  doctrines  that  we  hold  in  common 
with  other  churches  in  Christendom.  The  doctrines  we  hold 
in  common  with  other  churches  are  far  more  important  than 
those  that  we  hold  as  peculiar  to  ourselves.  Nay,  the  doc- 
trines that  we  hold  as  peculiar  to  ourselves  derive  their  impor- 
tance from  these  very  doctrines  that  we  hold  in  common  with 
other  Christians.  Therefore  in  speaking  this  morning,  as  I  am 
announced  to  speak,  on  the  subject  of  Presbyterian  Doctrine,  I 
make  no  apology  for  calling  your  attention  to  the  great  truth 
that  we  hold  in  common  with  the  Christian  world,  which  in 
fact  serves  to  unify  the  Christian  world.  That  doctrine  not 
only  belongs  to  us  in  common  with  the  rest,  but  it  is  the  one 
which  constitutes  the  basis  upon  which  all  that  is  peculiarly  dis- 
tinctive of  our  denomination  rests, 


14  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of the 

I  want  to  speak,  then,  this  morning  on  the  Incarnation  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  How  do  we  get  this  doc- 
trine ?  It  is  not  proven  by  this  text  or  that  text.  It  is  not  by 
putting  texts  together  that  you  get  any  doctrine.  It  is  by  a  con- 
silience of  proofs,  by  an  inductive  process  and  in  the  terms  of 
inductive  probability,  that  we  establish,  not  only  this,  but  all 
the  doctrines  that  constitute  Christian  faith,  in  fact,  that  consti- 
tute the  beliefs  of  the  world  on  any  subject,  whether  it  be  in 
science  or  in  philosophy.  Our  Lord  gave  us  a  hint  as  to  the 
place  of  probability  in  theological  inquiry,  in  his  own  words : 
"  Ye  can  discern  the  face  of  the  sky,  and  ye  cannot  discern  the 
signs  of  the  times.  In  the  evening  ye  say,  '  It  will  be  fine 
weather  to-morrow,  for  the  sky  is  red ' ;  and  in  the  morning  ye 
say,  '  It  will  be  foul  weather  to-day,  because  the  sky  is  red  and 
lowering.'  "  That  was  before  the  day  of  what  we  now  call  the 
doctrine  of  probabilities  in  respect  to  the  weather.  It  was  be- 
fore the  day  of  the  enunciation  of  Butler's  great  principle  that 
probability  is  the  guide  of  life. 

There  was  a  division  among  the  people  in- the  days  of  our 
Lord  because  of  him.  That  division  grew  out  of  a  dispute 
about  facts,  and  it  was  a  division  that  grew  out  of  a  dis- 
pute about  the  proper  inferences  to  be  derived  from  facts. 
Divisions  among  men  at  the  present  time  about  Christ  grow  out 
of  a  dispute  about  facts,  historically  speaking,  and  grow  out  of  a 
dispute  about  the  inferences  to  be  derived  from  those  facts, 
philosophically  speaking.  So  you  come  pretty  close  up  to  the 
question  of  philosophy  in  its  relation  to  the  construction  of 
Christian  belief,  and  in  its  relation  particularly  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  incarnation. 

Some  people  say  now  that  philosophy  must  be  left  to  the 
philosophers  and  theology  must  be  left  to  the  theologians,  and 
that  religion  is  the  thing  with  which  we  Christians  have  par- 
ticularly to  do.  Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  "  If  the  light  that  is 
in  you  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that  darkness."  If  the  funda- 
mental principles,  upon  which  all  reasoning  proceeds,  be  denied, 
how  will  you  ever  validate  any  reasoning?     If  the  fundamental 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  15 

postulates  of  belief,  that  condition  our  belief  in  history,  be  de- 
nied, how  can  you  have  any  history?  It  is  in  vain  that  we 
undertake  to  build  the  superstructure  of  the  temple  of  knowl- 
edge, in  vain  that  we  build  nave  and  transept  according  to  the 
demands  of  an  exacting  science  of  architecture,  if,  after  all,  we 
are  building  upon  a  quicksand.  "  Other  foundation  can  no  man 
lay  than  that  which  is  laid,  even  Jesus  Christ" — foundation 
for  doctrine,  foundation  for  character,  foundation  for  hope, 
foundation  for  all  expectation  with  respect  to  the  eternal  world. 
But  our  knowledge  of  Christ  and  our  belief  in  him  itself  de- 
pends upon  certain  fundamental  convictions  which  underlie  in- 
quiry on  all  subjects ;  so  that  we  are  in  the  position  to-day 
as  to  the  relation  between  history  and  philosophy,  where  we 
must  choose  whether  we  shall  let  our  philosophy  make  history 
for  us,  or  whether  we  shall  let  our  history  make  philosophy  for 
us ;  whether  we  will  cast  discredit  on  the  fundamental  verities 
of  the  New  Testament  in  the  interest  of  certain  foregone  Pan- 
theistic conclusions  in  philosophy,  or  whether  we  will  repudiate 
the  conclusions  of  a  Pantheistic  philosophy  by  a  reverent  regard 
for  the  irrefutable  facts  of  gospel  history. 

Now,  Christianity  is  simply  theism,  or  belief  in  God,  plus  the 
incarnation.  What  is  the  relation  between  these  two  ideas? 
It  would  be  natural  to  say,  "  I  believe  in  God  first  and  believe 
in  the  incarnation  afterward."  According  to  our  Saviour's  own 
words,  "  Ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me."  It  would 
look  as  though  belief  in  God  were  the  postulate  and  prerequisite 
of  belief  in  Jesus  Christ!  How  can  you  believe  that  God  has 
sent  Christ,  if  you  do  not  believe  antecedently  that  there  is  a 
God  ?  That  looks  as  though  it  were  perfectly  logical ;  and  yet 
truth  does  not  move  always  in  straight  logical  lines,  or  in  what 
we  think  to  be  such.  It  is  perfectly  proper  to  move  along  the 
line  of  inference  and  causation,  and  the  argument  from  design, 
the  argument  from  order,  and  establish  your  belief  in  God,  and 
then,  having  established  your  belief  in  God,  to  ask  yourself  the 
further  question  whether  God  has  spoken,  and  if  he  has  spoken, 
how,  when  and  through  whom,  and  whether  Jesus  Christ  is  the 


16  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

climax  of  those  revelations.  But  may  I  not  come  straight  up  to 
the  question  of  the  incarnation,  and  on  the  basis  of  the  incarna- 
tion work  back  to  the  belief  in  God  ?  I  think  I  may.  I  think 
that  a  man  who  at  present  has  no  faith  in  God  in  possession, 
who  as  yet  does  not  realize  the  full  force  of  arguments  in  support 
of  the  existence  of  God,  may  at  least  be  confronted  by  the  fun- 
damental facts  of  Christianity.  He  may  be  forced  by  sheer 
regard  for  the  historicity  of  the  New  Testament  to  say  that  there 
was  something  exceptional,  marked,  unique,  so  to  speak  mirac- 
ulous, in  the  life  and  experiences  of  Jesus  Christ  that  called  for 
explanation;  and  in  his  search  for  an  adequate  hypothesis  in 
explanation  of  the  life  and  career  of  Jesus  Christ,  may  feel  him- 
self shut  up  to  belief  in  God. 

Still,  apart  altogether  from  the  question  whether  I  believe  in 
God  first  and  get  the  incarnation  afterward,  or  believe  in  the 
incarnation  first  and  get  the  existence  of  God  afterward,  it  is 
quite  clear  that  the  incarnation  is  an  advance  upon  mere  theism. 
Because,  suppose  I  do  believe  in  God ;  suppose  I  do,  as  a  matter 
of  philosophy  and  in  my  search  for  a  theory  of  the  universe,  find 
myself  shut  up  to  a  necessity  of  believing  in  some  great  manu- 
facturer of  atoms,  some  maximum  brain  that  is  capable  of  grasp- 
ing the  totality  of  things  in  one  great  intuition, — that  does  not 
satisfy  me.  The  moment  I  have  grasped  that  idea  and  taken 
hold  of  the  thought  of  this  infinite,  omnipotent  will,  my  interest 
is  awakened,  and  I  want  to  know  what  he  is  going  to  do  with 
me.  I  want  to  know  whether  he  will  harm  me.  I  want  to 
know  whether  he  has  any  future  for  me.  I  want  to  know  what 
my  destiny  will  be ;  and  I  get  no  complete  answer  to  that  ques- 
tion until  I  find  the  attributes  of  God  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ, 
aud  realize  that  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  sent  his  only 
begotten  Son  into  the  world,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  "  Ye  believe  in 
God,  believe  also  in  me."  Ye  believe  in  God,  therefore  you 
may  believe  in  me.  But  that  is  not  all.  You  believe  in  God  ; 
you  must  believe  in  me. 

Now  a  man  might  ask  whether  we  are  under  such  obligation 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  17 

to  the  incarnation  for  this  knowledge  of  the  attributes  of  God. 
Is  it  necessary  that  I  should  come  to  a  knowledge  of  God  in 
Christ  in  order  that  I  may  know  God  loves  me  and  is  my 
Father?  Can  I  not  trust  my  religious  feelings?  Are  not  my 
religious  instincts  sufficient  to  give  me  this  proof  about  the 
way  in  which  God  regards  me?  Let  us  consider  that  question  ; 
and  I  am  not  so  sure  but  that  the  raising  of  the  question  gives 
us  an  opportunity  to  say  a  word  with  respect  to  the  entire  re- 
lationship of  these  two  thoughts,  the  subjective  feeling  that  I 
have  about  God  and  about  my  relations  to  him,  and  these  object- 
ive facts  that  are  revealed  to  me  in  the  New  Testament.  Again 
I  say  truth  does  not  always  work  in  straight  lines.  Truth  works 
both  ways ;  and  when  you  have  two  distinct  lines  of  argument 
you  can  say,  "  These  being  the  facts,  we  can  advance  from  this 
given  state  of  facts  to  that  inference  on  the  one  hand,"  and  then 
say,  "  These,  on  the  other  hand,  being  another  set  of  facts,  we 
can  advance  from  this  state  of  facts  back  again  by  way  of  de- 
duction to  the  other  conclusion,  each  position  reinforcing  the 
other."  So  I  can  say,  given  a  strong  feeling  or  desire  for  the 
incarnation,  a  longing  for  satisfaction  that  finds  expression  in 
expiation,  a  longing  for  communion  with  God  that  finds  expres- 
sion in  the  doctrine  of  regeneration  and  sanctification,  it  is 
natural  that  these  instincts  of  our  nature  should  be  corroborated, 
reinforced,  satisfied,  gratified,  in  these  three  great  cardinal  truths 
of  the  Christian  religion.  And  I  can  argue  back  again  and  say, 
inasmuch  as  God,  on  the  distinct  historical  testimony  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  has  spokeu  to  us  with  respect  to  these  three 
great  truths,  these  instincts  of  our  nature  are  thereby  re-affirmed. 
The  instincts  confirm  Scripture,  and  the  Scriptures  corroborate 
the  instincts.  So  that  we  can  work  both  ways ;  we  can  vin- 
dicate these  instincts  that  we  are  born  with  and  that  constitute 
part  of  the  capital  with  which  we  are  set  up  in  the  business  of 
thinking  as  moral  agents,  and  in  so  doing  contribute  a  strong 
argument  in  support  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  that  speaks 
about  those  instincts.  And  again,  we  can  consider  the  specific 
historical  truths  that  go  to  accredit  the  Bible  as  a  miraculously 
2 


18  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

given  revelation  from  God ;  and  in  so  far  as  we  establish  its  his- 
toricity and  inspiration,  to  that  extent  do  we  contribute  a  strong 
argument  in  support  of  that  intuitive  philosophy  that  defends 
those  instincts  against  the  empiricism  that  would  treat  them  as 
processes  of  a  naturalistic  character.  We  defend  the  one  by  the 
other.  Each  in  its  place  is  a  good  argument  to  the  help  of  the 
other. 

Now,  this  bearing  of  the  religious  instincts  that  I  refer  to 
upon  the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  gets  a  little  support  I  think 
from  the  attitude  of  the  irreligious  thought  of  our  own  day. 
The  peddlers  of  the  small  wares  of  infidelity  that  are  so  com- 
mon do  not  really  represent  the  world  of  unbelief,  because  we 
must  do  the  serious  men  of  the  unbelieving  world  the  credit 
of  recognizing  that  they  are  about  serious  business ;  and  if  there 
is  anything  that  is  characteristic  of  the  better  class  of  philo- 
sophic men  who  do  not  believe  in  Christianity,  it  is  that  they  are 
not  happy  in  it.  There  is  a  certain  sadness  of  tone  manifested 
in  what  they  write.  They  are  perfectly  honest  in  not  being 
able  to  accept  Christianity ;  but  if  they  were  to  say  what  they 
think,  they  would  honestly  say  they  wish  they  could  accept  it, 
because  they  have  no  substitute  for  it,  and  they  see  the  world's 
despairing  attitude  once  they  give  it  up.  As  CliiFord  said,  he 
sighed  when  he  felt  that  the  great  companion,  meaning  God,  was 
dead.  Nothing  is  more  pathetic  in  literature  than  Romanes' 
picture  of  despair  when  he  found  that  he  could  no  longer  believe 
in  God.  Thank  God,  he  found  him  before  he  died,  and  his  last 
utterances  were  magnificent  contributions  to  Christian  faith. 
These  men  that  do  not  believe  in  God,  and  that  have  given  up 
Christianity,  cannot  give  up  everything.  The  heart  is  human, 
though  men  belie  its  instincts.  They  would  fain  conserve 
morality,  although  they  must  admit  that  the  bottom  drops 
out  of  morality  when  they  give  up  its  intuitional  principles. 
They  have  done  as  the  Jews  did  when  they  crucified  the  Sav- 
iour. They  are  now  casting  lots  for  his  raiment ;  and  it  is  a 
fact  that  the  only  thing  that  will  save  the  decency  of  moral  life 
is  to  be  found  in  the  wardrobe  of  Christianity.     Men  want  to 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  19 


believe  in  ideals.  They  cannot  have  a  moral  ideal  when  they 
have  discarded  Christ.  Men  want  to  believe  in  the  immortality 
of  perpetuated  influence.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  the  immor- 
tality of  perpetuated  influence  when  personal  immortality  is  de- 
nied. They  wish  to  believe  in  an  altruistic  mode  of  living. 
The  highest  type  of  altruism  was  illustrated  in  him  who  died,  the 
just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  reconcile  us  to  God  ;  and  when 
they  give  up  Christ,  they  will  make  only  a  very  ineffectual 
stand  for  the  utilitarianism  that  seeks  the  greatest  happiness  of 
the  greatest  number.  Oh,  I  do  not  wonder  that  men  wish  to 
get  back  to  Christ !  I  do  not  wonder  that  men  begin  to  feel  that 
we  are  at  the  place  of  the  parting  of  the  ways,  that  you  must 
either  get  back  to  Christ,  with  all  that  is  supernatural  in  him, 
or  that  you  must  go  on  to  despair.  I  do  not  wonder  that  men 
are  asking  the  question  whether  life  is  worth  living.  It  is 
Christianity  that  says  "Do  thyself  no  harm"  when  one  is 
tempted  to  draw  the  sword  and  end  the  misery  of  existence  by 
suicide.  I  do  not  wonder  that  when .  men  have  given  up  their 
divinity  of  Christ  and  accepted  a  Hegelian  philosophy  which 
is  Pantheism,  or  a  materialistic  philosophy  which  is  worse,  and 
feel  that  the  outcome  leaves  them  really  no  basis  for  moral- 
ity, they  resolve  upon  some  sort  of  compromise  between  the 
old-fashioned  Nicene  theology  and  Pantheism  which  makes 
Christ  simply  a  symbol,  a  name  and  nothing  more.  I  admit 
that  these  writers  do,  when  they  speak  about  Christ,  talk  about 
his  divinity  as  having  a  certain  judgment  value — that  is,  speak 
of  it  as  something  which  has  been  discarded  by  intellect,  but 
then  picked  up  by  feelings.  I  do  not  wonder  that  these  people 
take  that  doctrine  as  a  sort  of  compromise,  and  yet,  after  all, 
realize,  as  they  must,  that  they  are  standing  in  unstable  equilib- 
rium. In  considering  their  position,  from  an  ecclesiastical  or 
theological  point  of  view,  whether  we  shall  regard  it  as  a  move- 
ment in  descent  to  a  doctrine  still  lower,  or  whether  we  shall 
regard  it  as  a  reactionary  movement,  a  good  sign  of  the  times, 
an  indication  of  a  backward  move  towards  Christ,  is  a  question 
about  which  there  may  be  very  well  a  difference  of  opinion,  and 


20  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

the  answer  to  that  question  will  depend  very  largely  upon  the 
individual's  point  of  view ;  but  we  are  at  the  place  unquestion- 
ably where  it  must  be  seen  by  everybody  that  the  heart  of  all 
modern  controversy  on  all  questions  is  this  question  about  Jesus 
Christ, 

Did  he  rise  from  the  dead  ?     Arnold  says  he  did  not. 

"  But  he  is  dead  ;  far  hence  he  lies 
In  the  lorn  Syrian  town, 
And  on  his  grave,  with  shining  eyes, 
The  Syrian  stars  look  down." 

If  he  is,  I  do  not  wonder  that  there  is  that  note  of  sadness  in 
all  of  Arnold's  poetry.  So  we  come  back  to  that  question,  rec- 
ognizing that  this  is  the  heart  of  the  inquiry.  The  theme  of 
the  world's  debate  is  Jesus  Christ.  The  battleground  of  the 
world's  controversy  is  Calvary.  The  arch  controversy  of  all  the 
ages  is  that  old  inquiry  which  first  fell  from  the  lips  of  the 
Master  himself,  "  What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  We  come  to  see 
that  the  incarnation  may,  therefore,  be  taken  as  the  basis  of  the 
world's  apologetic  at  this  present  time,  and  so  we  may  begin 
our  defence  of  the  Christian  religion  right  there. 

It  may  not  look  as  though  we  were  reasoning  as  logically  as 
people  would  like.  If  we  should  say,  in  the  first  place,  we  are 
indebted  to  the  Bible  for  the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation,  and,  in 
the  second  place,  we  defend  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  by 
means  of  the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation,  certain  very  vigilant 
critics  might  seek  to  trip  us,  and  say,  "  You  are  reasoning  in  a 
circle,  proving  the  Bible  by  the  incarnation  and  then  proving 
the  incarnation  by  the  Bible."  Suppose  we  did.  That  is  a 
perfectly  proper  thing  to  do.  From  the  purely  dogmatical  point 
of  view7,  where  everybody  accepts  the  Bible  as  the  inspired  word 
of  God,  we  may  proceed  to  see  what  the  Bible  has  to  say  about 
Jesus  Christ,  and  build  up  the  doctrine  of  the  person  of  Christ, 
and  get  our  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  that  way.  But  we  do 
not  depend  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  for 
the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation ;  and  if  you  will  concede  to  me 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  21 

that  the  prophetic  trend  of  the  Old  Testament  reached  its 
climax  in  Jesus  Christ,  if  you  will  concede  to  me  on  simply 
historical  ground  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  if  you  will 
concede  to  me  the  conversion  of  the  apostle  Paul,  then  upon 
any  three  of  these  facts,  and  certainly  upon  all  these  facts  put 
together,  we  will  agree  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  person 
of  Jesus  Christ  is  so  unique  and  miraculous  that  its  explanation 
is  possible  only  in  the  terms  of  what  is  called  the  doctrine  of  the 
incarnation,  that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto 
himself. 

Now  then,  that  being  the  case,  Christ  stands  there  !ft  the  very 
climax  of  the  body  of  literature  that  we  call  the  Old  Testament. 
He  stands  there  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  body  of  literature 
that  we  call  the  New  Testament.  He  stands  there  in  such 
marked,  obvious  relationship  to  all  this  literature  that  it  is  as 
impossible  for  us  to  escape  the  argument  of  design  in  its  appli- 
cation to  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  as  it  is  for  us  to  escape  the 
argument  of  design  in  its  application  to  the  world  as  related  to  a 
creating  God.  The  incarnation  is  not  a  patch  that  has  been  put 
upon  the  garment  of  Christianity.  It  is  so  woven  into  all  the 
warp  and  woof  of  Christian  literature  that  it  is  impossible  for 
you  to  eliminate  it;  and  the  question  is.  How  do  you  account 
for  it?  How  do  you  explain  the  organic  relation  that  Christ 
sustains  to  Old  and  New  Testament  literature?  You  will  have 
to  say  it  was  either  done  by  chance  or  done  by  choice.  You 
will  have  to  explain  it  as  a  matter  of  blind  chance,  or  on  the 
supposition  that  the  prophet  was  the  blind  weaver  of  this  web 
of  destiny,  speaking  things  he  did  not  wot  of,  but  that  behind 
the  prophet  and  speaking  to  the  prophet  was  the  spirit  of  the 
prophet  that  shaped  his  vision,  and  whose  word  was  on  his 
tongue.  When  we  are  in  that  position  where,  on  the  basis  of 
the  incarnation,  we  have  in  a  measure  vindicated,  I  will  not 
say  what  kind  of  inspiration,  I  do  not  say  what  sort  of  inspi- 
ration, but  vindicated  some  sort  of  supernaturalism  for  this 
totality  of  biblical  literature  that  we  call  the  word  of  God,  and 
in  such  way  as  to  make  it  authoritative,  we  are  in  a  position  to 


22  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

consider   the    incarnation    in    its    relation    to    the    doctrines   of 
grace. 

If  there  is  anything  peculiar  about  the  Old  Testament,  I  im- 
agine we  will  pretty  generally  agree  that  it  is  a  marvellous  dec- 
laration on  the  part  of  God  of  his  interest  in  humanity,  of  his 
interest  in  the  people  of  his  choice.  He  led  them,  he  fed  them, 
he  worked  miracles  in  revelation  of  himself  and  for  them,  in  all 
their  afflictions  he  was  afflicted,  and  the  angel  of  his  presence 
saved  them.  Could  he  do  anything  more  ?  Yes,  the  Scriptures 
tell  us  he  could  do  more.  He  could  carry  theophany  to  the  point 
of  actual  identification  with  mankind.  He  could  become  man. 
He  could  take  upon  himself  our  nature,  and  so  we  read  "  the 
Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we  beheld  his 
glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father),  full  of 
grace  and  truth."  The  New  Testament  is  just  the  climax  of 
Old  Testament  teaching.  The  New  Testament  is  just  the  ex- 
plication of  what  was  taught  by  implication  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. What  else  is  there  taught  in  that  Old  Testament?  Why, 
if  there  was  any  other  idea  that  was  distinctive  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, it  was  God's  hatred  of  sin  and  God's  love  of  the  sinner ; 
and  we  know  how  the  Levitical  institutions  of  the  Old  Testament 
bear  testimony  to  both.  Could  God  do  anything  more?  Yes; 
he  could  be  made  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and  for  sin  con- 
demn sin  in  the  flesh.  He  could  be  made  sin  for  us  who  knew 
no  sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him. 
He  could  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sin.  He  could  taste  death 
for  every  man.  He  could  go  down  to  death  and  destroy  him 
who  had  the  power  of  death,  and  deliver  us  who,  through  fear 
of  death,  were  all  our  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.  In  other 
words,  the  two  ideas  that  struggle  for  reconciliation,  and 
that  find  their  reconciliation  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  are 
love  and  law;  and  if  we  will  give  these  two  ideas  their  proper 
value,  and  assign  them  their  proper  place  in  our  thinking,  I  do 
not  think  we  will  have  much  trouble  about  the  atonement.  I  do 
not  think  we  will  have  much  trouble  about  the  future  state.  Yet 
the  heresies  about  the  atonement  and  heresies  on  the  subject  of  the 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  23 


future  state  have  generally  grown  out  of  a  failure  to  appreciate 
the  relation  of  these  two  ideas  of  law  and  love  as  they  emerge  in 
the  person  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ.     Men  take  the  doctrine  of 
the  atonement  and  pass  it  through  the  prism  of  analysis,  and 
they  find  it  distributes  itself,  just  as  light  distributes  itself  into 
various  colors,  through  this  analytical  process.     One  man  says 
blue,  orange  or  red  is  the  light.     It  is  not.     One  man  says  it  is 
the    moral    influence    theory,   or    the   vicarious    theory,   or   the 
governmental  theory,  or  the  representative  theory,  that  is  the 
atonement.     It  is  not.     There  is  truth  in  all  of  them,  but  the 
great  doctrine  of  the  atonement  is  bigger  than   any  of  them, 
and  it  is  the  synthesis  of  the  whole.     In  the  same  way  with  the 
doctrine  of  retribution,  when  the  heresy  came  into  the  church 
that  attacked  the  divinity  of  Christ,  there  grew  up  a  correspond- 
ing view  of  the  atonement  that  did  not  need  the  services  of  a 
divine  Saviour,  and  you  could  imagine  what  that  was.     When 
sentimentality  took  possession  of  the  soul  and  ousted  the  word 
of  God,  there  came  in  opinions  about  the  process  of  salvation 
and  the  duration  of  punishment,  and  the  two  theories  of  retri- 
bution that  struggled  for  the  mastery  were  these.     On  the  one 
hand  it  was  said  that  God  was  too  fond  to  punish  people  eternally, 
if  he  punished  them  at  all,  and  there  was  the  doctrine  that  if  you 
were  only  sorry  for  what  you  had  done  you  would  go  to  heaven. 
That  was  all  you  needed.    That  was  the  doctrine  of  love  without 
law.     By  and  by  men  found  that  this  theory  would  not  work,  and 
did  not  satisfy  the  instincts  of  the  heart  or  the  conditions  of  a 
correct  exegesis.     They  gave  it  up.     In  place  of  it  they  said, 
"  It  does  not  make  any  difference  how  much  you  repent  or  feel 
sorry,  or  how  long  you  feel  sorry,  there  is  no  way  to  be  happy 
unless  you  are  good.     There  is  no  way  of  salvation  except  by  a 
good  character."     That  was  the  doctrine-  of  law  without  love. 
The  real  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  as  taught  us  through  the  incar- 
nation, is  neither  the  doctrine  of  love  without  law  nor  law  with- 
out love,  but  it  is  the  union  of  the  two,  mercy  and  truth  having 
met  together,  righteousness  and  peace  having  kissed  each  other. 
I  am  not  sorry  to  have  men  raise  the  cry  of  "  Back  to  Christ." 


24  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

I  am  not  unwilling  to  have  men  say,  "  We  have  too  much  doc- 
trine nowadays."  I  am  willing  to  be  accommodating  in  the 
largest  spirit  of  accommodation ;  and  if  they  say  that  in  these 
days  it  is  hard  to  get  men  to  believe  anything,  and  it  is  best 
to  take  what  you  can  get,  we  are  willing  to  have  Christianity 
reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  and  expressed  in  its  minimum  quid. 
What  is  it?  Make  jetsam  and  flotsam  of  the  doctrines  if  you 
want  to.  Throw  overboard  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New 
Testament  if  you  want  to.  Give  me  something.  Give  me  the 
resurrection  of  Christ.  Give  me  the  conversion  of  Paul.  Give 
me  his  four  undisputed  Epistles.  Give  me  at  least  the  three 
synoptic  Gospels.  Give  me  as  little  as  this.  Give  me  this 
fundamental  statement,  to  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconcil- 
ing the  world  unto  himself.  That  is  all  I  ask.  That  is  the 
mini  in  urn  of  Christianity.  That,  in  other  words,  is  the  essence 
of  Christianity. 

You  know  what  a  man  means  when  he  says,  "  That  is  the 
essence  of  a  thing."  No  one  ever  stated  what  the  essence 
of  a  thing  was  quite  as  prettily  as  Spinoza.  The  essence  of  a 
thing  is  this :  it  is  that  without  which  the  thing,  and  which 
itself  without  the  thing,  can  neither  be  nor  be  conceived.  You 
give  me  the  incarnation,  and  you  give  me  that  without  which 
there  is  no  Christianity,  and  that  which,  being  given,  you  can- 
not help  having  Christianity.  All  I  want  is  there,  and  I  will 
not  take  less.  Why?  Christianity  is  a  creed,  a  code  and  a 
cult.  It  is  something  to  believe,  something  to  do,  and  something 
to  worship ;  and  you  cannot  get  along  without  the  element  of 
worship,  because  if  you  do,  then,  as  somebody  has  very  prettily 
said,  you  will  make  of  Christianity  a  scientific  garden  which 
has  a  tree  of  knowledge  without  a  tree  of  life.  When  you  vacate 
Christianity  of  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  you  take  out 
of  it  the  element  of  belief.  You  have  not  anything  distinctive 
to  believe  then.  When  you  take  the  divinity  of  Christ  out  of 
Christianity,  you  take  out  of  it  the  authority  for  what  he  says, 
and  it  is  a  mere  matter  of  choice  and  sympathy  with  me  whether 
I  will  accept  him  or  not.     Take  the  divinity  of  Christ  out  of 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  25 

Christianity,  and  Christianity  becomes  mere  intellectualism  or 
mere  emotionalism  ;  and  Christianity  to-day,  so  far  as  its  en- 
emies are  concerned,  is  in  just  that  position,  and  it  is  a  ques- 
tion to-day  whether  those  who  do  not  accept  the  divinity  of 
Christ  will  go  on  to  mere  speculative  philosophy  on  the  one 
hand  or  on  to  mere  sentimental  hero-worship  on  the  other. 

I  say  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  have  these  men  preach  sermons 
about  Christ,  and  say  "Get  back  to  Christ";  but  I  want  to  ask 
them  one  question.  I  want  them  to  be  very  specific  about  this. 
Is  it  what  Christ  says,  or  is  it  who  Christ  is,  that  they  mean 
when  they  talk  about  preaching  Christ?  Because  I  tell  you 
that  the  question  as  to  what  Christ  says  does  not  begin  to  be  as 
important  as  the  question  who  Christ  is,  for  all  that  Christ  says 
derives  its  value  as  authority  from  the  answer  to  the  antecedent 
question  as  to  who  Christ  is.  And  if  you  have  settled  it  that  he  is 
a  mere  man,  and  that  therefore,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  an 
atheist  could  be  a  Christian,  then  you  have  vacated  Christian- 
ity of  all  that  makes  it  what  it  is.  When  I  say,  therefore,  that 
the  cry  "Back  to  Christ"  is  a  thing  we  sympathize  with  fully, 
I  mean  that  it  is  the  divine  Christ  that  constitutes  the  min- 
imum of  Christianity.  I  think  it  will  be  found  that  this  doc- 
trine involves  by  implication  the  maximum  of  Christianity  too ; 
for,  having  accepted  the  divinity  of  Christ,  we  cannot  help  hav- 
ing other  doctrines  also  in  our  creed. 

So  that,  having  disrobed  yourself  of  all  your  doctrinal  rai- 
ment, and  come  down  to  the  simple  garment  of  the  deity  of 
Jesus  Christ,  I  hope  you  have  not  put  the  rest  of  the  raiment 
where  you  cannot  find  it,  because  you  will  need  it ;  for  the  mo- 
ment you  have  accepted  the  divinity  of  Christ,  you  will  begin 
to  rehabilitate  your  beliefs,  and,  in  spite  of  yourself,  you  begin 
to  see  that  this  divine  Christ  sustains  relations  to  the  Father  and 
Holy  Spirit,  and  you  will  have  some  sort  of  a  trinity;  that  this 
divine  Christ  sustains  relations  to  the  doctrine  of  sin,  and  you 
will  have  some  sort  of  doctrine  of  sin ;  that  this  divine  Christ 
sustains  relations  to  the  doctrine  of  atonement,  and  you  will  have 
some  sort  of  doctrine  of  atonement :  that  this  divine  Christ  sus- 


26  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

tains  relations  to  the  doctrine  of  justification,  and  of  the  future 
state,  and  of  the  purpose  of  God,  and  that  therefore  you  will 
have  some  sort  of  doctrine  of  the  purpose  of  God  and  of  the 
future  state  and  of  justification.  It  is  not  a  question  what 
you  are  going  to  believe  about  these  doctrines,  but  that  you 
must  believe  something  about  them.  It  is  not  a  question 
whether  you  will  have  any  theology ;  it  is  a  question  as  to  what 
that  theology  shall  be,  once  you  have  taken  into  your  embrace 
this  doctrine  of  a  divine  Christ.  Oh,  don't  you  see  where  we 
are  ?  Don't  you  see  that  the  alternatives  are  these :  you  must 
either  give  up  your  Christ,  his  supernaturalism,  and,  giving  him 
up,  have  no  authority  even  for  your  morality,  and  be  in  a  po- 
sition where  you  cannot  make  a  respectable  stand  even  for  the 
ten  commandments ;  or,  having  accepted  the  divine  Christ,  you 
must  go  on  to  complete  your  theology  and  formulate  for  your- 
self, in  some  way  or  other,  a  large  area  of  systematic  theology  ? 
Those  are  the  issues.  Those  are  the  choices.  I  tell  you  there 
is  no  escape.  It  is  out-and-out  naturalism  on  the  one  hand,  or 
out-and-out  supernaturalism  on  the  other. 

What  are  you  going  to  do  ?  Yes,  dear  friends,  Christ  is  the 
minimum  of  Christianity,  and  the  maximum  of  Christianity  too, 
as  I  have  said.  When  we  have  accepted  this  doctrine  of  a  di- 
vine Christ  we  shall  see  that  he  sustains  relationships  to  our 
practical  life.  I  know  what  people  say.  I  know  they  say,  We 
are  not  so  bad  as  that.  We  are  not  going  to  give  up  every- 
thing. AVe  like  those  beautiful  statements  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  about  loving  your  neighbor,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 
That  is  true,  you  like  them.  Suppose  you  did  not  like  them. 
Suppose  somebody  comes  along  who  does  not  like  them.  That 
is  a  mere  difference  of  opinion  between  you.  What  are  you 
going  to  do  ?  When  you  ask  me  whether  I  do  not  recognize  the 
educational  power  of  Christianity,  why,  certainly  I  recognize  that 
the  Christian  life  in  its  practical  aspects  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant things  with  which  you  and  I  have  to  do.  Christianity 
is  not  only  a  warfare,  Christianity  is  not  only  a  ransom  price ; 
Christianity  is  an  education,  and,  as  in  other  processes  of  educa- 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  27 

tion,  it  is  a  gradual  thing,  and  Christ  moreover  is  the  great  sub- 
ject of  study,  Christ  is  the  great  theme  in  the  curriculum.  It 
is  in  Christian  life  as  it  is  in  all  life:  we  learn  very  slowly,  we 
learn  gradually.  Those  bits  of  color  that  range  themselves,  as 
if  by  magic,  on  the  canvas  according  to  the  law  of  light  and 
shade  and  perspective,  you  know  they  are  not  accidents.  Those 
complex  pieces  of  music  that  the  skilled  performer  executes 
without  volition,  automatically,  as  it  seems  to  us,  these  are  not 
accidents.  They  are  the  outcome  of  incessant  practice,  repeated 
mortifications  and  failures.  Those  words  of  the  finished  speaker 
that  drop  so  easily  from  his  lips,  they  are  not  accidents.  They 
too  are  the  result  of  time  and  industry,  the  product  of  the  two. 
So  with  Christian  life.  Paul  says,  ye  have  not  so  learned  Christ. 
Christ  is  an  object  of  study.  You  may  look  on  him  as  a  rep- 
resentative man,  the  enunciator  of  great  ideas, — as  the  one  who 
peerlessly  illustrates  the  power  of  a  pure  life.  Yes,  looking 
upon  Jesus  as  a  subject  of  study,  I  can  well  understand  how  men 
who  do  not  believe  in  the  divinity  of  Christ  can  say,  "We  can- 
not get  along  without  Christ."  They  cannot.  They  cannot. 
Why  do  they  not  say,  We  cannot  get  along  without  a  divine 
Christ?  Because,  I  tell  you,  when  they  say,  We  cannot  get 
along  without  Christ,  meaning,  we  are  going  to  get  along  with  a 
mere  human  Christ  for  the  sake  of  these  human  ideals,  and  for 
the  sake  of  the  educating  processes  of  morality,  they  are  trying 
to  do  the  impossible.  They  are  having  a  Christ  who  has  no 
authority.  That  is  the  difference.  Christianity  is  two  things. 
It  is  the  incarnation ;  it  is  also  the  incarnation  for  purposes  of 
atonement  and  blood  shedding.  If  it  were  the  atonement  with- 
out the  incarnation,  it  would  be  a  valuable  idea  without  any 
authority.  If  it  were  the  incarnation  without  the  atonement,  it 
would  be  an  authoritative  idea  without  any  value.  But  the 
glory  of  Christianity  is  that  authority  and  value  are  wedded  in 
this  doctrine.  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto 
himself,  not  imputing  to  men  their  trespasses. 

No,  we  yield   to  no   man  in  our  recognition  of  the   imperial 
Christ  in  his  human  aspect,  and  the  educative  power  of  Chris- 


28  Bi-ceniennial  Celebration  of  the 

tianity  in  its  moral  aspect;  but  we  say,  to  keep  that  educative 
moral  power  you  must  have  a  divine  element  in  the  incarnation, 
and  the  practical  question  of  atonement,  the  question  of  the 
divinity  of  the  incarnation,  may  well  be  made  the  central  theme 
of  Christian  preaching,  because,  among  other  things,  it  settles 
for  us  man's  place  in  the  scale  of  being.  I  do  not  wonder  that 
in  the  presence  of  the  world's  splendor,  that  standing  in  the  gaze 
of  the  world's  immensity,  a  man  is  tempted  to  turn  materialist. 
He  can  say  to-day,  with  a  thousand  times  more  significance  and 
meaning  than  the  Psalmist  ever  said  it — and  yet  the  Psalmist, 
with  his  limited  knowledge  of  the  physical  world,  knew  enough 
to  be  able  to  say — "  When  I  look  up  unto  Thy  heavens,  and  to 
the  moon  and  stars  which  Thou  hast  ordained,  then  say  I,  What 
is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and  the  son  of  man  that 
Thou  visitest  him  ?"  Materialism  is  very  natural ;  and  when 
man  tries  to  fight  his  materialism,  he  is  apt  to  fight  it  by  say- 
ing, "  All  that  looks  so  solid  and  substantial  is  not  real.  The 
only  real  thing  in  the  world  is  mind ;  and  mind  is  God,  and 
there  is  but  one  mind.  I  create  the  light  and  I  make  the 
darkness";  and  in  identifying  himself  with  God  he  loses  him- 
self. Now,  the  hard  thing  for  philosophy  to  do  is  what  Chris- 
tianity accomplishes.  The  hard  thing  to  do  is  to  conserve  your 
separate,  finite,  perdurable  intelligence  as  mind,  and  yet  keep  it 
distinct  from  God ;  to  conserve  that  infinite  intelligence,  God, 
and  yet  not  identify  it  with  the  world.  Christianity  is  not  the 
identification,  but  it  is  the  reconciliation,  of  God  and  man ;  and 
it  is  because  of  Christ's  wedding  the  logos  with  a  true  body 
and  a  reasonable  soul,  and  lifting  that  body  with  him  to  glory, 
that  we  do  not  sing  the  hymn  about  wanting  to  be  an  angel  and 
with  the  angels  stand.  We  know  better.  We  know  that  Christ 
still  has  a  human  heart,  and  that  a  human  hand  is  guiding  the 
sceptre  of  the  universe ;  and  we  know  moreover  that  this  event 
that  took  place  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  settles  for  you 
and  for  me  our  theory  of  history  and  our  explanation  of  this 
universe. 

You  need  not  talk  in  technical  terms.      You  need  not  use  the- 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  29 

ological  expressions.  You  need  not  say  anything  about  Cal- 
vinism or  Arminianism ;  but  I  say  that  the  event  that  we  are 
speaking  of  could  not  have  taken  place  until  the  clock  struck 
the  hour  that  marked  the  fullness  of  the  times.  I  say  that,  since 
that  incarnation  took  place,  it  was  in  the  nature  of  things  im- 
possible but  that  there  should  be  a  great  multitude  out  of  every 
kindred  and  tribe  and  tongue  who  should  believe  in  Him,  who 
should  be  redeemed  by  Him,  and  who  should  reach  heaven, 
blood-washed,  white-robed,  sino-ino;  the  song-  of  Moses  and  the 
Lamb.  Now,  why?  In  order  that  in  the  ages  to  come  might 
be  known  by  the  church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God.  In 
other  words,  it  wras  purposed.  So  this  doctrine  of  the  incar- 
nation, this  single  doctrine,  widens,  widens,  widens,  until  it  com- 
prehends every  event  that  has  taken  place  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  We  do  well  to  ponder  this  doctrine;  we  do  well  to 
treasure  it.  The  logos  takes  into  union  with  Himself  a  true 
body  and  a  reasonable  soul.  So  God  becomes  man.  The  Spirit 
of  God  takes  up  His  abode  in  a  finite  human  spirit,  and  man 
becomes  a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature.  These  are  the  two 
great  truths  of  Christian  life.  What  do  they  betoken  ?  What 
do  these  ideas  indicate?  They  indicate  the  destiny,  the  glorious 
immortality,  that  awaits  the  children  of  God.  The  perdurable 
personality  of  the  theanthropic  Jesus  is  the  prophecy  of  the 
glorious  future  of  every  one  that  believes  in  Him. 

Do  you  believe  in  immortality  ?  There  is  a  great  literature 
growing  up  now  about  immortality.  A  professor  in  New  York 
told  us,  with  a  great  deal  of  hesitation,  as  though  he  were  still 
unconvinced,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  apparent  apology  for  it, 
that  he  was  really  getting  into  a  frame  of  mind  where  he  thought 
it  might  not  be  impossible,  though  he  had  always  thought  it  im- 
possible before — might  not  be  impossible  for  people  to  live  after 
they  died,  thanks  to  these  modern  discoveries  of  spiritualism. 
Now  are  we  indebted  to  Mr.  Hyslop,  Prof.  James,  Mr.  Gurney 
and  Mr.  Myers,  to  those  people  whose  business  it  is  to  take 
kodak  photographs  of  ghosts,  for  the  vindication  of  the  Chris- 
tian doctrine  of  immortality?  or  is  there  not  higher  ground  on 


30  Bi-centemiial  Celebration  of  the 

which  to  stand,  and  where  we  can  say  with  the  apostle,  "  For 
we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dis- 
solved, we  have  a  building  of  God,  an  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens"?  No  new  doctrine  this  of  im- 
mortality to  you  and  me ;  no  hypothesis  to  be  vindicated  by 
ocular  demonstration,  photographs  of  ghosts,  and  seances  of 
spiritualists,  but  the  revealed  word  of  God,  anchored  in  the 
truth  of  the  incarnate  Christ.  Nor  need  this  personal  interest 
that  you  and  I  have  in  the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  blind  us 
to  the  fact,  to  the  official  interest  we  may  have  in  it  as  those  who 
have  been  commissioned  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ  Let  us  not  be  discouraged.  The  enemy  comes  in  like  a 
flood ;  but,  after  all,  the  real  apologetic  is  not  made  by  men,  but 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  our  faith  shall  stand  not  in  the  wis- 
dom of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God.  "  We  are  ambassadors 
for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us :  we  pray  you 
in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God.  '  For  He  hath  made 
Him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be 
made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."  This  is  our  message ; 
this  is  our  duty  ;  this  is  our  official  station  as  ministers  of  Jesus 
Christ.  To  us  is  committed  this  high  duty  of  acting  as  the 
servants  of  God  to  sue  for  the  hand  of  humanity,  to  go  forth 
and  lead  her  back  to  the  palace  gates  of  heaven  as  the  chosen 
bride  of  Christ ;  and  in  spite  of  all  the  coldness  with  which  our 
message  may  be  received,  in  spite  of  all  lack  of  responsive  atten- 
tion, we  believe  that  the  union  between  God  and  man  that  took 
place  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  was  but  the  prophecy  of  that 
good  time  coming  when  the  bells  of  heaven  shall  ring  in  the 
nuptials  of  the  ransomed  church  and  her  royal  Spouse.  To  this 
consummation  the  world  is  tending ;  for  this  consummation,  O 
thou  Son  of  God,  thy  people  wait. 


PEAYEE.— The  Pastor. 

O  God,  we  believe  in  Thee,  Father  Almighty,  and  in  Jesus 
Christ,  Thine  only  Son,  our  Lord,  who  was  conceived  of  the 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  31 

Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  was  crucified,  dead  and 
buried.  The  third  day  He  rose  from  the  grave,  and  ascended  up 
into  heaven,  and  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  the  Father 
Almighty,  from  whence  He  shall  come  to  judge  the  quick  and 
the  dead.  Great  is  this  mystery  of  godliness;  but  we  know 
whom  we  have  believed,  and  are  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  we  have  committed  unto  Him.  Keep  Thy  church 
steadfast  in  this  confidence,  we  beseech  Thee.  May  she  be  in- 
deed immovable  in  this  her  faith,  that  so  she  may  be  a  true  wit- 
ness for  God — that  so  she  may  win  men  unto  Him.  Fill  with 
Thy  blessing,  we  beseech  Thee,  this  service.  Bring  us  together 
again,  that  we  may  this  afternoon  and  this  evening,  if  it  please 
Thee,  still  be  filled  with  these  things  of  God ;  and  unto  the 
Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  be  all  the  praise. 
Amen. 

HYMN  102. 
BENEDICTION. 


SABBATH    AFTERNOON, 

NOVEMBER  13,  1898. 


SABBATH-SCHOOL  CELEBRATION. 

ANTHEM.— "Te  Deum  Laudamus"  (Festival).— Dudley  Back. 

RESPONSIVE  READING.— Psalm  132. 

PRAYER.— The  Pastor. 

O  God,  our  heavenly  Father,  we  thank  Thee  for  this  day. 
We  have  waited  for  its  coming,  and  now  we  rejoice  in  it.  We  do 
bless  Thee  for  this  Sabbath-school,  that  Thou  didst  put  it  into  the 
hearts  of  godly  men  and  women  so  long  ago  to  begin  it,  and  that 
it  has  always  had  true  and  loyal  friends  to  take  care  of  it  through 
all  the  years.  We  thank  Thee  for  all  who  have  here  superin- 
tended, for  all  who  have  taught  Thy  word,  and  for  all  who  have 
gladly  received  Thy  word  into  their  hearts.  We  thank  Thee 
that  so  many  have  here  learned  in  their  hearts  the  story  of  Jesus, 
and  gone  out  to  live  it  in  their  lives.  For  all  who  have  been  saved 
through  the  instrumentality  of  this  school,  we  thank  Thee ; 
for  all  still  upon  the  earth,  scattered  here  and  there  in  so  many 
places,  and  for  those  who  have  gone  to  heaven,  and  there  thank 
Thee  that  they  were  brought  up  in  this  Sabbath-school  and  here 
learned  the  way  of  life.  And  now  we  thank  Thee  that  we  are 
members  of  it.  For  all  the  pleasure  we  find  in  it,  we  bless 
Thee.  We  pray  that  we  may  always  love  it  more  and  more,  and 
do  everything  in  our  power  for  its  welfare,  trying  to  iucrease  its 
numbers,  trying  to  make  it  more  efficient,  trying  to  make  it 
more  in  very  truth  a  school  of  Christ  and  for  Christ.  Grant 
3 


34  Bi-centennkd  Celebration  of  the 

that  we  may  this  afternoon  have  an  hour  which  shall  be  memor- 
able to  us,  which  we  shall  think  of  with  great  pleasure  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  Bless  those  who  shall  speak  to  us.  We 
thank  Thee  for  their  coming.  We  thank  Thee  that  they  are 
with  us  on  this  day  of  festivities,  and  we  pray  Thee  that  we 
all  who  are  now  before  Thee  may  be  anew  consecrated  to  Thy 
service  and  give  ourselves  wholly  up  unto  Thee,  who  hast  loved 
us  and  given  Thyself  for  us.  We  ask  it  in  our  blessed  Saviour's 
name,  who  has  taught  when  we  pray  to  say,  "  Our  Father,"  etc. 

HISTOEY    OF   THE    SABBATH-SCHOOL. 
Mr.  George  Griffiths,  Superintendent. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia  was  organ- 
ized in  1698,  and  the  Sunday-school  in  connection  with  the 
church  was  commenced  in  the  winter  of  1815,  in  the  parlor  of 
Mr.  Jonathan  Smith,  Walnut  Street,  above  Eighth.  The  min- 
utes of  the  church  state  that,  October  17,  1815,  an  application 
was  received  from  S.  Hall,  on  behalf  of  the  young  ladies  of  the 
congregation,  for  permission  to  use  the  church  as  a  school  for 
the  instruction  of  poor  children  on  the  Sabbath,  at  such  times 
as  should  not  interfere  with  divine  service.  The  corporation 
unanimously  agreed  to  grant  the  request. 

The  school  was  held  in  the  church,  south  side  of  Market 
Street,  corner  of  Bank,  below  Third.  During  public  worship, 
children  and  teachers  occupied  benches  ranged  against  the  walls. 
The  first  superintendent  was  Mrs.  John  Conolly,  the  wife  of  an 
elder,  and  meetings  for  consultation  on  the  welfare  of  the  school 
were  held  at  their  house. 

The  teachers  were  encouraged  by  increasing  numbers  and 
other  indications  of  success.  But  the  tide  of  business  was  mov- 
ing westward  and  carrying  with  it  many  private  residences.  It 
was  necessary  to  move  the  church,  and  the  present  site  was  se- 
lected in  1820.  After  the  sale  of  the  old  church,  the  school 
found  temporary  accommodations  in  the  lecture  room  of  the 
Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Cherry  Street,  west  of  Fifth. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  35 

In  the  spring  of  1821  the  new  church  was  opened,  and  the 
Sunday-school  held  its  sessions  in  the  rooms  on  each  side  of  the 
vestibule  of  the  church,  now  the  pastor's  study  and  the  church 
parlor. 

The  school  appears  to  have  needed  enlarged  accommodations, 
for,  in  November  of  the  same  year,  "  the  teachers  applied  for  the 
use  of  the  prayer  room  and  for  two  or  three  pews  in  the  gallery." 
Both  requests  were  granted,  and  two  pews  on  each  side  of  the 
choir  were  allotted  to  the  school. 

The  first  mention  of  the  boys'  school  in  connection  with  the 
First  Church  is  seven  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  girls' 
school.     December  2,  1822,  we  find  the  following  minute: 

"  Resolved,  That  the  application  of  the  young  men  for  the  use  of  the  western 
room  in  the  new  church  for  a  Sunday-school  for  boys  be  granted." 

Two  months  later  the  following  minute  appears : 

"That  the  schoolrooms  adjoining  the  vestibule  be  closed  and  locked  as  soon 
as  worship  commences  in  the  church." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Eckard,  formerly  missionary  to  India,  after- 
ward professor  in  Lafayette  College,  gives  some  interesting 
information  in  a  letter  dated  1868.     He  says  : 

"  The  boys'  school,  I  always  understood,  was  commenced  by 
Lemuel  Wilson,  son  of  the  pastor,  Dr.  James  P.  Wilson. 
Lemuel  soon  died,  and  the  school  dragged  along  a  half-dead  and 
half-alive  existence.  William  B.  Davidson  was  the  one  who 
kept  up  the  little  life  there  was  in  it.  One  Sunday  morning,  I 
think  in  1828,  Mr.  Davidson  asked  me  if  I  could  not  help  him 
get  up  a  better  Sunday-school  for  boys.  He  did  not  make  the 
request  on  the  ground  of  religious  duty — neither  of  us  made 
any  religious  profession — but  he  spoke  of  it  as  a  sort  of  duty  to 
the  community  to  teach  religion  to  bad  and  ignorant  boys.  To 
the  objection  that  I  had  no  religion  myself,  and,  of  course,  could 
give  no  instruction  in  it,  he  replied  that  I  could  get  a  commen- 


36  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

tary  on  the  Bible  and  tell  them  what  was  said  in  it.     I  mention 
this  as  a  fair  idea  of  the  spirit  in  which  the  school  was  then  taught. 

"  Next  Sunday  I  went  to  the  room  which  was  for  so  long  a 
time  occupied  by  Albert  Barnes  as  his  study.  It  was  scantily 
furnished  with  a  few  benches  and  chairs,  and  a  desk,  nominally 
for  the  superintendent.  Mr.  Davidson  held  that  office,  but  he 
had  so  little  to  look  after  that  he  acted  also  as  a  teacher.  No 
one  connected  with  the  school  had  then  made  a  profession  of  re- 
ligion. There  was  no  prayer  offered  in  the  school,  nor,  so  far  as 
I  know,  for  the  school.  When  the  hour  came,  we  took  seats 
and  gave  such  ideas  of  the  way  to  salvation  and  the  meaning  of 
the  Bible  as  might  be  expected  of  such  teachers.  We  had  a 
small  library,  having  learned  that  a  library  was  a  fit  adjunct  of 
the  Sunday-school. 

"  I  offered  the  first  prayer  ever  made  in  the  school  on  the  day 
when  I  made  a  profession  of  religion.  Mr.  Davidson  told  me, 
when  I  proposed  it,  that  there  could  be  no  objection  ;  indeed,  he 
thought  it  would  be  a  good  thing.  Soon  afterwards  I  was 
elected  superintendent,  merely  to  have  the  school  opened  with 
prayer.  Thus  we  groped  on  as  well  as  we  could,  gradually  en- 
larging in  our  ideas,  but  never  getting  very  high  up. 

"Mr.  Joseph  H.  Dulles  left  the  Arch  Street  Church — Dr. 
Skinner's — and  came  to  the  First  Church.  I  resigned  that  he 
might  be  elected  superintendent.  But  we  had  made  some  prog- 
ress and  our  numbers  had  increased.  This  was  aided  by  fitting 
up  rooms  in  the  basement — two  rows  of  arches  on  the  west  side 
for  girls  and  one  on  the  east  side  for  boys  (1831?).  Another 
aid  was  the  formation  of  a  sort  of  confederation  with  the  ladies, 
whose  school  was  at  first  quite  separate,  and  who  had  got  far 
ahead  of  us,  both  in  intelligence  and  in  action.  The  whole  ex- 
pense, about  one  thousand  dollars,  was  contributed  by  the  con- 
gregation with  great  promptitude  and  liberality.  A  great  im- 
pulse was  given  to  the  school  by  these  superior  accommodations. 
After  awhile,  many  thought  these  basement  rooms  damp  and 
unhealthy,  and  this  led  to  the  erection  of  the  building  northeast 
corner  of  Seventh  and  Spruce  Streets. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  37 

"  Before  Albert  Barnes  came  to  the  church,  we  felt  the  need 
of  mutual  instruction  in  the  lessons  and  other  matters.  This 
led  to  a  meeting  of  all  the  teachers,  and  we  came  to  understand 
our  lessons  and  duties  better  than  by  a  course  of  solitary  stud}'. 
As  the  school  increased,  piety  was  manifested  by  several  of  the 
teachers.  A  more  potent  influence  for  good  than  the  improved 
accommodations  was  the  loving  care  and  strong  interest  mani- 
fested by  the  new  pastor,  Albert  Barnes.  Large  Bible  classes 
were  formed,  an  infant  school  was  established,  and  a  teachers' 
prayer  meeting  was  held  at  the  close  of  the  afternoon  service. 
In  1831  a  class  for  catechism  was  commenced  on  Saturday  after- 
noons. On  the  second  Sabbath  of  every  month  instructive 
services  were  held  under  the  direction  of  the  pastor,  which  left 
a  pleasant  impression  on  many  minds. 

"In  the  extensive  revival  of  1840,  thirty-four  of  the  school 
stood  up  boldly  for  Jesus,  and  devoted  their  lives  to  his  service. 

"For  years  the  good  work  continued.  While  the  older  mem- 
bers of  the  church  formed  an  association  to  attend  to  its  secular 
affairs,  the  younger  ones  went  out  to  labor  in  different  portions 
of  the  Master's  vineyard.  At  one  period  the  schools  connected 
with  the  church  numbered  fifteen  hundred  members." 

Dr.  Eckard  also  sent  the  Register  of  the  Boys'  School,  com- 
mencing December  29,  1829.  It  is  probably  the  oldest  Sunday- 
school  Register  in  the  city. 

In  1848  the  property  northeast  corner  Seventh  and  Spruce 
was  purchased,  and  the  building  erected  and  occupied  until 
March,  1896,  when  the  erection  of  the  present  building  was 
commenced. 

Beginning  with  1856  monthly  services  were  held  for  the  chil- 
dren in  the  lecture  room.  Mr.  Barnes  gave  the  Catechism  ques- 
tions, the  children  answering  in  classes. 

In  Octojber,  1856,  Rev.  Dr.  Malin  addressed  the  school  on 
behalf  of  the  missionary  ship,  Morning  Star ;  $102.51  were  col- 
lected. Many  distinguished  missionaries  have  visited  the  school ; 
Dr.  John  Scudder,  over  forty  years  in  India;  Dr.  Perkins, 
twenty-seven  years  among  the  Nestoriaus ;  Mr.  Gleason,  thirty- 


38 


Bl-centennicd  Celebration  of  the 


^ix  years  among  the  Choctaws ;  Mr.  Wiley,  missionary  to  the 
Cherokees ;  Mrs.  Wilder,  Miss  Brittan,  Messrs  Briggs,  Baxter, 
Chldlaw  and  others. 

In  1857  Mr.  William  G.  Crowell  was  elected  superintend- 
ent. 

Morning:  and  afternoon  sessions  of  the  school  were  held  until 
J  870,  when  it  was  decided  to  hold  one  session  at  2.30  p.m. 

In  October,  1880,  the  school  was  addressed  by  members  of 
the  Pan  Presbyterian  Council. 

January  5,  1881,  the  Sunday-school  was  called  to  mourn  the 
loss  of  its  beloved  superintendent,  Mr.  William  G.  Crowell, 
who  was  called  from  the  labors  and  cares  of  the  church  militant 
to  the  rest  and  peace  of  the  church  triumphant. 

Mr.  Crowell  was  connected  with  the  school  for  forty-five 
years  as  scholar,  teacher,  and  from  the  year  1857  to  the  day  of 
his  death  as  its  faithful  and  efficient  superintendent. 

By  voluntary  contributions  of  teachers  and  scholars,  a  marble 
tablet  was  placed  in  the  Sabbath-school,  with  this  inscription : 
"  In  Memoriam,  Our  Superintendent  twenty-four  years  ;  con- 
nected with  the  school  forty-five  years.  William  G.  Crowell, 
'  Asleep  in  Christ/  January  5,  1881.  A  tribute  from  teachers 
and  scholars.     He  loved  the  children." 

Since  the  organization  of  the  school  the  following  named  per- 
sons have  occupied  the  superintendency  : 


LEMUEL  WILSON, 

WILLIAM  B.  DAVIDSON, 

JAMES  R.  ECKARD, 

JOSEPH  H.  DULLES, 

CHARLES  M.  McINTYRE, 

MATTHIAS  W.  BALDWIN, 

ISAAC  DUNTON, 

HENRY  DAVIS, 

WILLIAM  PC  RYES, 

JOHN  SPARHAWK, 

HIRAM  WARD, 

E.  D.  ASHTON, 

WILLIAM  G.  CROWELL, 

GEORGE  GRIFFITHS,  since  Jan.  1881. 


And  of  the  Girls'  School: 


MRS.  JOHN  CONOLLY, 

MISS  JANE  HAYS, 

MISS  E.  PETTIT, 

MISS  KEPPELE, 

MISS  MATILDA  WALLACE, 

MISS  AMELIA  DAVIDSON, 

MRS.  LAWRENCE, 

MISS  ELIZA  AUSTIN, 

MRS.  ELIZABETH  P.  WILSON, 

MISS  M.  N.  PAUL. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  39 

Blessed  roll  of  honor  through  many  years  of  faithful  toil ! 
And  what  a  list  of  godly  ministers,  who  have  labored  at  home 
and  abroad,  lawyers,  physicians,  business  men  and  earnest 
workers  in  all  walks  of  life,  have  passed  from  faithful  teachers 
through  these  eighty-three  years  ! 

And  what  a  large  amouut  of  money  has  found  its  way  into 
the  Lord's  treasury  through  the  offerings  of  the  school  and  mis- 
sion bands ! 

For  several  years  there  was  a  feeling  among  many  in  our  con- 
gregation that,  to  accomplish  the  work  that  ought  to  be  done  by 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  part  of  our  city,  a  build- 
ing more  suitable  than  the  one  erected  in  1848  should  be  pro- 
vided, and  so  the  purchase  of  adjoining  properties  was  made. 
Plans  and  estimates  were  obtained  and  the  work  of  rebuilding 
commenced  March  2,  189G. 

The  laying  of  the  corner-stone  took  place  May  23d,  and  dedi- 
cation services  were  held  December  13,  1896. 

The  Albert  Barnes  Memorial  was  erected  in  loving  remem- 
brance of  one  who,  for  forty  years,  faithfully  labored  among  this 
people,  and  whose  pen  was  ever  busy  in  making  plain  to  all  who 
read  his  commentaries,  God's  holy  word. 

This  building  is  the  home  of  the  Sabbath-school,  mission 
bands,  mothers'  meetings,  sewing  school,  reading  room,  boys' 
guild,  literary  union,  library  and  gymnasium,  and  a  rallying 
centre  for  a  great  deal  of  work  that  is  helpful  to  very  many 
persons. 

The  Chinese  have  a  character  which  means,  "  Hall  of  Happi- 
ness and  Glad  Tidings " — being  applied  to  places  for  their 
amusement.  May  this  building  ever  be  in  the  purest  and  high- 
est sense  a  place  of  true  happiness  and  glad  tidings  to  very 
many. 

With  gratitude  to  God  for  what  has  already  been  accom- 
plished, and  with  renewed  hope  for  greater  usefulness  and  success 
in  the  work  of  building  up  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Sav- 
iour, Jesus  Christ,  let  us  first  of  all  present  ourselves  wholly 
unto  our  King  and  loving  Heavenly  Father,  who  delights  in 


40  Bir-centmnial  Celebration  of  the 

his  children's  affections,  and  then  pray  that  this  edifice  may  ever 
be  used  for  that  which  will  glorify  God  and  save  men  unto  eter- 
nal life,  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  dear  Lord  and  Redeemer,  be- 
ing thus  led  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,     Amen. 

HYMN.—"  Praise  Him,  Every  Voice."— (The  Primary  Department.) 

THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

In  1882  we  were  privileged  as  a  church  in  having  as  Stated 
Supply  one  whom  we  all  honor  and  who  has  been,  during  six 
years  at  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  influencing  many  young  men  in 
their  lives,  who  have  gone  forth  in  various  walks  of  life,  in  the 
ministry  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  impressed  by  words  spoken 
from  one  who  shall  talk  to  us  to-day — Dr.  Patton,  president 
of  Princeton  University. 

ADDRESS.— Rev.  Francis  L.  Patton,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

My  dear  Christian  friends,  I  begged  off  when  I  was  asked 
to  make  this  speech  this  afternoon,  and  I  do  not  think  I  should 
have  spoken  if  it  had  not  been  that  I  could  not  very  well  say 
no,  as  Mr.  Perkins  and  Mr.  Griffiths  wrote  me  that  I  must  say 
something.  So  I  have  come  to  say  something,  not  much,  but 
something.  I  recall  very  pleasantly  these  relations  that  Mr. 
Griffiths  has  so  kindly  referred  to.  I  recall  very  well  an  occa- 
sion similar  to  the  present,  when  I  stood  on  this  platform  and  ad- 
dressed the  Sunday-school.  Indeed,  the  only  argument  that 
seemed  to  prevail  with  me,  when  I  said  I  could  not  talk  to  the 
Sunday-school,  was  that  he  said  I  could;  I  had  done  it,  he  re- 
membered it.  I  could  not  go  back  on  that  statement,  I  knew 
I  had  done  it.  I  remember  the  occasion.  I  remember  my  friend 
Judge  Pierce  was  here  that  day.  I  remember  his  speech.  I  do 
not  remember  anything  of  my  own.  Of  course,  having  con- 
sented to  come,  the  next  question  was  what  I  should  say.  I  did 
not  know  what  to  say.     I  wanted  a  text.     I  had  not  any  text. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  41 


I  am  so  much  in  the  habit  of  preaching  from  the  pulpit  that  I 
cannot  very  well  make  a  speech  even  to  the  Sunday-school  with- 
out a  text.     But  I  got  a  text.     I  did  not  get  in  town  until  very 
late  last  night.     Mr.  Perkins  had  almost  given  me  up,  I  expect, 
but  I  could  not  come  any  sooner.     I  would  have  come  sooner, 
but  I  had  to  stay  and  see  the  game.     My !  but  that  was  a  great 
game.     I  stood  up  on  the  top  of  the  grand  stand.     I  was  on  my 
feet  for  two  blessed  hours— two  hours  and  a  half.     You  know  it 
is  a  great  deal  of  a  strain  to  stand  up  all  that  time  and  watch, 
and  not  see  as  well  as  most  people  do,  have  to  strain  your  eyes 
to  see,  and  be  so  tremendously  interested  in  seeing  everything. 
But  I  saw  it,  and  am  very  glad  I  did.     That  is  my  text.     I  have 
not  anything  better  to  bring  to  you  to-day  than  an  account  of 
that  foot-ball  game.     I  know  there  may  be  some  people  here 
that  do  not  like  foot-ball.     It  was  pretty  rough,  a  rough  game, 
but  it  was  a  good-natured  game,  played  in  good  spirit,  and  we 
won.     That  is  what  pleased  me,  and  it  pleased  me  all  the  bet- 
ter because  we  had  to  fight  so  hard,  play  so  hard  I  mean,  to  win. 
That  is  everything  I  want  to  say,  because  it  seems  to  me  that 
game  has  a  religious  side.     I  would  not  come  here  and  speak 
unless  it  were  on  a  religious  subject.     There  is  a  religious  side 
to  life  in  everything  if  you  only  stop  and  look  for  it.     There 
were  two  kinds  of  people  at  that  game— those  that  played  the 
game  and  those  that  only  looked  on.     Of  course  that  would  be 
a  division  into  the  players  and  those  who  were  not.     I  am  not 
going  to  make  that  division   further  than   to   say   the  players 
would  not  have  done  as  good  work  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
spectators.     The    16,000   people   watching   the    Princeton    and 
Yale  men  put  a  lot  of  nerve  into  the  Yale  and  Princeton  men. 
They  played  for  all  they  were  worth  because  there  were  these 
16,000  people  looking  on  and  cheering  them.     Now  Yale  cheered 
this  side,  then   Princeton  cheered  the  other  side.     I  began  to 
think  of  that  part  of  the  Bible  where  the  apostle  says,  "  Seeing 
we  also  are  compassed  about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses, 
let  us  lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily 
beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before 


42  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

us,"  and  so  on.  What  I  mean  is  that  there  is  a  great  fight  going 
on.  I  am  a  little  mixed  up,  I  admit,  as  I  shall  go  through,  be- 
cause the  real  thing  I  am  talking  about,  the  real  illustration  that 
there  is  of  materiality  to  talk  about,  is  the  game.  I  do  not  want 
you  to  think  foot-ball  is  a  fight,  yet  I  do  not  want  you  to  think 
life  is  a  game.  Life  is  serious.  Life  is  earnest.  Life  is  a 
battle,  but  foot-ball  is  a  game,  and  plenty  of  fun  in  it,  too. 
What  I  want  you  to  understand  is  that  the  people  that  look 
on,  that  watch,  that  watch  with  interest,  have  a  great  deal 
to  do  in  the  results  that  are  accomplished  by  the  men  who  are 
really  doing  work,  carrying  burdens  and  doing  the  fighting, 
wherever  it  may  be,  whether  it  be  in  the  battlefield  at  Santiago 
or  whether  it  be  in  the  battlefield  of  reform  in  the  city — the 
fight  against  corruption.     That  is  one  thing. 

Another  thing  I  want  to  say  is  this,  that  I  noticed  that  pretty 
much  everybody  on  that  grand  stand  took  sides,  and  I  do  not 
believe  they  could  be  very  much  interested  in  the  game  if  they 
would  not.  You  see,  now  one  side  would  gain  a  yard,  now  the 
other  side  would  gain  a  yard.  If  a  man  stood  up  there  and  said 
"  I  don't  know  that  I  care  which  one  wins,"  I  do  not  think  he 
could  have  felt  very  much  interest.  The  interest  in  the  thing 
consisted  to  a  very  large  extent  in  that  you  wanted  one  side  or 
the  other  to  win.  I  know  exactly,  if  my  friend  Mr.  Perkins 
had  been  there,  how  he  would  have  felt.  He  would  not  have 
felt  as  I  did.  He  would  have  been  just  about  as  much  interested 
as  I.  I  do  not  know  what  his  views  are  on  the  general  question 
of  foot-ball.  I  know  what  his  views  would  have  been  if  he  had 
been  on  the  grand  stand  alongside  of  me.  I  know  he  would 
have  wanted  Yale  to  win,  and  would  have  come  away  with  a 
very  different  sort  of  elation  from  what  I  came  away  with.  He 
would  have  wanted  Yale  to  win  about  as  much  as  I  wanted 
Princeton  to  win.  I  have  not  much  use  for  people  who  have 
not  enthusiasm  enough  to  feel  interested,  who  have  not  enthusiasm 
enough  about  the  great  fight  going  on  against  sin  and  corruption 
in  high  places  and  low  places  to  feel  interested  and  want  the 
right  to  win.     That  is  what  we  must  do.     I  think  if  a  boy  or 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  43 

girl  gets  started  with  that  sort  of  feeling  that  "  I  want  the  right 
to  win,"  he  has  made  a  very  good  start  in  life.  Now  a  man 
might  have  that  sort  of  feeling  and  yet  not  say  much  about  it. 
A  man  might  say  "  Of  course  I  am  on  the  right  side  "  when  the 
call  comes  "  Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side  ?"  because  there  is  a  right 
side  and  a  wrong  side,  there  is  a  Lord's  side  and  a  devil's  side, 
and  the  question  is,  who  is  on  the  Lord's  side?  A  man  might 
say  "  Of  course  I  am  on  the  Lord's  side.  I  don't  care  to  say 
much  about  it.  I  don't  care  to  talk  much  about  it.  I  am  very 
modest  in  the  way  I  feel  about  this  thing."  I  tell  you  they 
were  not  modest  yesterday.  You  knew  which  side  a  man  was 
on.  You  knew  if  he  had  a  yellow  chrysanthemum  in  his  button- 
hole which  side  he  was  on.  You  knew  if  he  had  a  Yale  flag 
waving  which  side  he  was  on.  There  is  a  great  parable  taught 
by  that  game  to  me  yesterday.  I  tell  you  these  are  times  when 
a  man  ought  to  show  his  colors,  when  a  man  ought  to  let  people 
know  which  side  he  is  on,  and  if  he  is  on  the  right  side,  say  he 
is  on  the  right  side,  or  what  he  thinks  the  right  side.  I  do  not 
like  to  press  that  figure  too  much,  because  I  suppose  both  sides 
thought  they  were  right,  and  much  more  I  want  to  impress  you 
with  this  idea,  that  of  course  we  went  in  to  win,  and  ihey  went 
in  to  win,  and  we  won,  and  the  principal  thing  was  to  win,  and 
in  the  game  of  foot- ball  I  suppose  that  is  the  main  thing,  but 
in  the  great  battle  of  life,  in  the  great  fight  for  what  you  call 
success,  in  the  great  achievements,  as  men  call  them,  in  the  way 
of  overcoming  obstacles,  there  is  something  else  besides  winning. 
It  is  not  a  question  whether  you  win.  It  is  the  question  of 
what  you  win.  It  is  the  question  of  how  you  win  it.  I  recall 
that  passage  in  the  Bible  where  it  says  that  if  a  man  strive  for 
mastery,  yet  is  he  not  crowned  except  he  strive  lawfully.  I 
never  saw  anything  like  it — run,  run,  run,  and  when  Pole  made 
that  touch-down  you  ought  to  have  seen  the  enthusiasm.  You 
ought  to  have  seen  how  the  Princeton  people  got  up  on  the 
grand  stand  and  waved  flags  and  shouted.  By  and  by,  in  the 
next  part  of  the  game,  another  one  ran  just  as  fast  and  got  just 
as  far  ahead.     Everybody  was  shouting  the  same  way.     The 


44  Bi-centennied  Celebration  of  the 

first  thing  Ave  knew  the  ball  was  put  back  in  its  place.  He  was 
not  crowned  that  time.  It  was  a  mistake,  and  that  is  one  thing 
about  this  game,  it  teaches  you  you  have  to  play  the  game 
straight ;  but  in  the  world's  fight  it  does  not  make  any  difference 
so  you  get  ahead,  so  you  make  money,  so  you  get  the  advantage, 
but  the  glorious  thing  about  foot-ball  is  that  when  you  win  a 
victory  there  you  are  not  crowned  unless  you  strive  lawfully. 
I  wish  that  commercial  men,  the  men  of  Wall  Street,  the  men 
that  run  railroads,  the  men  that  put  stock  on  the  market,  the 
men  that  water  stock,  the  men  that  float  bonds  that  ought  to 
sink  and  will  sink  them  if  they  do  not  get  rid  of  them — I  wish 
they  could  learn  something  from  foot-ball.  I  wish  they  could 
learn  that  the  only  victory  that  counts,  the  only  thing  that  tells 
on  character  and  makes  men,  is  not  winning  the  victory,  but  win- 
ning it  in  an  honest  way. 

One  thing  more  I  want  to  say.  I  do  not  know  how  many 
of  our  friends  know  what  it  costs  to  win  one  of  these  victories. 
Men  do  not  consider  how  much  is  meant  by  this  co-ordination 
of  the  faculties.  An  old  philosopher  once  said  in  one  of  the 
shortest  sentences  he  ever  wrote,  but  you  can  afford  to  read  it 
even  to-day  in  spite  of  all  advances  that  have  been  made  in 
philosophy,  "  Thought  is  quick."  My  goodness,  it  is  quick  as 
lightning.  Just  think  how  quick  it  is!  A  man  thinks,  and 
instantly  his  muscles  respond.  The  training  you  get  in  foot-ball 
and  base-ball  is  that  training  of  the  eye,  the  hand  and  all  the 
muscles  of  the  body,  so  that  the  will  shall  be  in  complete  com- 
mand of  every  muscle,  and  it  shall  fly  in  immediate  response  to 
that  mandate.  A  man  has  not  time  to  think  much,  to  think 
long,  to  deliberate.  He  has  to  think,  resolve  and  act — all  in 
something  less  than  the  hundredth  part  of  a  second.  To  do  that 
means  training,  means  practice,  and  the  man  has  to  keep  his 
body  under.  He  cannot  indulge  in  appetites,  whether  it  be  eat- 
ing or  drinking.  He  has  to  be  temperate  in  all  things.  That 
is  one  of  the  things  that  a  man  learns.  He  learns  to  keep  his 
body  under,  and  I  tell  you  in  this  great  fight  that  we  have  to 
maintain  character,  to  be  moral  and  put  appetite  under  foot,  to 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  45 

rise  superior  to  base  practices,  to  control  ourselves  and  learn  this 
power,  so  that  we  shall  have  our  faculties  always  at  command,  it 
means  eternal  vigilance.  Now,  these  fellows  do  it  just  for  what  ? 
Just  for  the  applause  of  that  crowd.  Just  for  the  glory  of  their 
college.  Just  for  a  temporary  and  evanescent  sort  of  reputation 
and  fame  they  do  it.  As  the  apostle  says,  for  a  corruptible 
crown— for  a  wreath  that  will  be  faded  in  less  than  a  week. 
But  we  ?  Why,  we  are  doing  the  same  thing.  We  are  doing 
it  for  an  incorruptible  crown.  Think  of  the  motive  that  we  are 
under.  Think  of  the  inspiration  that  ought  to  actuate  us. 
Think  how  we  ought  to  live,  control  our  appetites  and  master 
our  baser  nature,  in  order  that  we  may  rise  to  the  full  dignity 
of  the  great  manhood  that  is  our  destiny  if  we  are  only  true  to 
what  is  before  us. 

THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

President  Patton  wrote,  "If  I  accept  your  invitation  and 
speak,  you  will  regret  that  I  have  spoken  upon  an  occasion  of 
this  kind."  I  am  sure  all  of  us  have  no  such  regret,  but  we  are 
exceedingly  glad  President  Patton  accepted  the  invitation  for 
the  second  time.  Sixteen  years  ago,  and  then  again  to-day,  he 
has  talked  to  the  Sabbath-school  of  the  First  Church.  All  of 
us  who  will  try  to  remember  his  earnest  words  and  carry  them 
out  in  our  lives — this  doing  right — just  raise  the  hand  to  thank 
him  for  talking  to  us  this  afternoon.  A  vote  of  thanks,  Pres- 
ident Patton,  for  your  words  to  us. 

ANTHEM.— "Praise  Ye  the  Lord."— Gounod. 

THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

In  1868,  long  before  most  of  us  here  to-day  were  born, 
there  came  to  this  church  a  man,  to  succeed  Mr.  Barnes  in  the 
active  pastorate,  selected  by  Mr.  Barnes  himself,  followed  by 
that  of  the  congregation,  and  for  two  years  and  a  half,  as  a  son 


46  Bi-centennial  Celebration  oj  the 

to  Mr.  Barnes,  and  Mr.  Barnes  as  a  father  to  him,  I  shall  never 
forget  how  beautifully  they  seemed  to  walk  and  work  together 
in  this  old  church.  Then  Mr.  Barnes  was  called  home  to  his 
rest  in  heaven.  For  three  years  and  a  half  following  this  same 
man  continued — oh,  with  what  earnestness  and  enthusiasm — a 
helper  to  so  many  !  Then,  failing  in  health,  he  was  compelled 
to  resign  and  go  from  us;  but, oh, the  impress  made  in  those  six 
years  upon  many  lives  will  never  be  forgotten  as  long  as  they 
live  upon  this  earth;  and  in  the  life  to  come,  oh,  how  many  will 
meet  with  Dr.  Herrick  Johnson  and  thank  him  for  the  words 
of  -encouragement  and  the  help  he  gave  to  them  during  those 
six  years !  And  it  is  a  great  joy  and  pleasure  to  us  wTho  knew  him 
that  he  came  all  the  way  from  Chicago  with  Mrs.  Johnson  to 
spend  these  days  with  us,  to  preach  to  us  this  evening  and  to 
talk  to  us  this  afternoon.  We  all  welcome  him  a  thousand 
times  and  pray  that  God's  blessings  may  ever  be  upon  him. 

ADDRESS.— Kev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Dr.  Patton  has  brought  you  a  text  which  seemed  to  have  a 
good  deal  of  inspiration  in  it.  I  have  not  a  base-ball  or  foot-ball 
game  behind  me,  and  I  cannot  get  my  inspiration  from  such  a 
source  as  that ;  but  very  tender  are  the  memories  and  very  pre- 
cious are  the  associations  connected  with  this  hallowed  spot  to 
me,  for  six  of  the  best  years  of  my  life  were  spent  in  a  loving 
ministry  with  a  people  whose  match  I  believe  could  hardly  be 
found  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  especially  the  association  of 
those  early  days  in  that  ministry  with  the  beloved  Albert  Barnes, 
and  throughout  the  entire  ministry  with  the  beloved  William  G. 
Crowell,  the  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath-school  during  all 
those  years.  I  thank  God  for  the  association  and  the  memories 
to-day,  and  bless  Him  that  He  permitted  me  to  put  something 
of  my  life,  my  heart,  my  wish  and  will  down  into  this  beloved 
church.  I  have  been  thinking  what  I  should  talk  to  you  about 
to-day,  and  it  has  suggested  itself  to  my  mind  that  the  two  hun- 
dred  years  of  this  church's  life  is  a  good  thing — suggestive, 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  47 

bringing  some  things  to  mind  and  heart  that  perhaps  it  would 
be  well  for  us  all  to  remember. 

This  church  is  two  hundred  years  old.  How  old  are  you  ? 
Well,  that  question  was  asked  by  Pharaoh,  you  know,  a  good 
many  years  ago  of  Jacob  when  he  was  an  old  man.  It  has  been 
asked  often  since.  Some  regard  it  as  a  piece  of  impertinence  to 
ask  a  question  like  that.  Some  hesitate  to  answer.  Some  refuse 
to  answer.  Some  lie  in  the  answer.  But  there  is  a  sense,  I 
think,  in  which  the  question  may  be  appropriately  asked  of  all 
of  us,  suggested  by  the  life  of  this  church.  Two  hundred  years  ! 
That  is  a  long  time.  That  is  longer  than  any  of  us  will  live.  At 
the  best,  we  will  not  get  much  beyond  our  three  score  years  and 
ten,  and  then  we  will  pass  away,  and  very  likely  will  be  largely 
forgotten.  How  does  it  come  to  pass  that  this  church  is  two  hun- 
dred years  old?  Because  it  is  an  institution.  Men  die;  institu- 
tions live.  My  point  is  suggested  by  the  associations  of  the  hour. 
Get  yourselves,  as  soon  as  possible,  into  something  that  will  last. 
The  men  that  put  themselves  into  this  church  have  made  some- 
thing that  lives  much  beyond  their  own  years.  Take  that  list  out 
there  on  the  tablet  in  the  vestibule,  and  over  against  each  name 
is  the  date  of  what?  Of  his  death.  This  church  has  lived  on 
through  the  years.  These  men  have  died.  They  are  immortal 
in  part,  just  as  they  put  themselves  into  this  church.  I  say  to 
you,  boys  and  girls,  as  soon  as  possible  get  yourselves  into  some- 
thing that  will  last,  for  we  all  do  fade  as  leaves,  and  we  are  going 
out  of  this  world  pretty  soon,  at  the  longest,  and  if  we  want  to 
be  immortal  in  this  world,  let  us  try  and  get  ourselves  into  an 
institution,  into  the  church,  into  an  asylum,  into  a  library,  into 
a  college — into  something  that  is  built  for  the  future,  and  so  per- 
petuate ourselves,  and  be  careless,  like  the  leaves,  about  the 
monument  that  is  placed  where  we  die;  but  build  while  we  live 
and  where  we  live.  That  is  it,  boys.  Build  while  you  live  and 
where  you  live.  Put  something  of  yourselves  into  an  institution 
of  some  sort  that  is  going  to  last  when  you  die.  What  do  the 
leaves  do?  They  build  where  they  live,  in  the  trees.  The  tree 
is  their  monument.    There  they  lived,  there  they  wrought,  there 


48  Bi-centenn'ml  Celebration  of  the 

they  worked,  and  what  cared  they  when  they  fluttered  away  from 
the  tree  where  they  landed  finally  and  passed  again  to  their  kin- 
dred dust?  It  did  not  make  any  difference  where  they  died. 
Their  monument  wTas  where  they  lived. 

Some  men  are  very  ambitious  to  have  a  monument  where  they 
die.  Boys,  that  don't  amount  to  anything.  A  monument  built 
by  a  man  who  has  achieved  a  fortune,  and  with  that  has  built 
his  monument — a  monument  of  that  sort  tells  a  story,  but  it  is 
not  a  very  good  one.  It  is  a  reminder  of  something;  but  it  is 
not  a  reminder  of  anything  any  man  ought  to  be  wishing  that  he 
might  perpetuate.  A  monument  in  a  cemetery  is  the  most  per- 
pendicular thing  I  know.  It  stands  erect,  but  it  can  lie  like 
everything;  and  so  they  reveal  sombre  fiction — at  least  I  know 
of  that  being  written  over  a  cemetery  at  one  place,  perhaps  by 
way  of  reflection,  not  because  it  belonged  there:  "Here  lie  the 
dead,  and  here  the  living  lie."  The  epitaphs  over  a  good  many 
of  our  tombs  are  epitaphs  that  cannot  stand  the  investigation  of 
scientific  research.  They  do  not  tell  the  story.  If  the  truth  were 
told  concerning  a  man  who  had  achieved  a  fortune  and  then  left 
it— $50,000  or  $100,000— to  build  a  monument  over  his  grave, 
what  would  that  monument  say?  It  would  say  something  like 
this:  "This  is  sacred  to  the  memory  of  a  man  who  achieved  a 
fortune  without  character.  He  left  $50,000  to  build  this  monu- 
ment, and  this  monument  is  just  as  useless  as  he  was.  It  per- 
petuates nothing  worth  remembering;  neither  did  he."  That  is 
about  the  truth  concerning  such  a  monument.  Build  your  monu- 
ment where  you  live,  and  be  careless  about  the  monument  that  is 
placed  over  your  grave.  A  library,  an  institution  of  learning, 
an  asylum,  a  church  lasts.  Build  there  as  soon  as  possible.  Put 
yourself  into  some  good  thing  that  is  going  to  be  permanent. 
Here  is  a  Sabbath-school  superintendent,  who  is  putting  a  good 
deal  of  the  best  of  his  heart  and  brain  and  body  into  this  Sab- 
bath-school. William  G.  Crowell  poured  out  his  heart  here  in 
this  school,  and  here  is  his  treasure;  and  I  reckon  that  when  he 
went  up  to  heaven  to  receive  a  reward  for  his  fidelity  he  found 
that  the  best  work  he  ever  did  in  this  world  was  the  work  he  did 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  49 


in  connection  with  this  Sabbath-school — praying,  toiling,  labor- 
ing, caring  for  the  children.  Get  yourselves  into  this  school, 
get  yourselves  into  this  church,  with  your  money,  with  your 
prayers,  with  your  tears,  with  your  toil,  with  self-consecration. 
Be  sure  you  are  looking  out  for  the  future,  and  that  something 
will  last  after  you  are  taken  away. 

Yet  if  I  left  this  matter  here,  I  do  not  think   I  would  have 
said  all  that  should  be  said.     After  all,  what  is  the  most  ever- 
lasting thing   in   this   world?     It  is   personality.     The  person 
lives  and  the  institutions  die.     That  is  the  other  side  of  it.     The 
person   lives;    the   institution   dies.     There  is    nothing  in  this 
world  so  big,  there  is  nothing  in  this  world  so  everlasting,  save 
God's  truth,  as  your  personality.     God  is  person ;  that  distin- 
guishes him  from  everything  else  in   the  universe.     When  he 
made  man,  what  did  he  do?     He  lifted  him  to  a  distinguished 
place   in  creation   by  making  him  a  person.     He  endowed  him 
with  personality.     "  I  will  make  man  in  my  own  image,"  and 
he   made  every  man  and  every  woman  a  person  like  himself— 
the  biggest  thing  in  the  universe,  the  everlasting  thing.     A  man 
says,  "  I  have  not  been  a  success  in  life.     I  am  going  to  kill  my- 
self."    Can  he  kill  himself?     He  can  kill  the  body,  but  after 
that  there  is  no  more  that  he  can  do.     His  personality  goes  on 
and  on  and  on.     Why,  then,  of  course  the  best  thing  to  build  is 
the   everlasting   thing.     Boys  and  girls,  begin  building   right 
away    here    your    character.     What    is    the    foundation    stone? 
Jesus  Christ.     Get  him  into  your   life  and  heart   first  of  all. 
Lay  that  chief  corner-stone,  for   no  other  building  work   will 
amount  to  much.     It  may  last,  but  it  will   last  with   pain  and 
sorrow  to  you.     The  time  will   come  when  you  will  wish  you 
could  die  and  you  cannot  die.     You  have  got  to  live  on.     That 
personality  is  indestructible.      Begin   building  in  such  a  way 
that  it  will  be  a  perpetual  and  everlasting  joy  to  you.     Build  by 
putting  Christ  there  as   the  corner-stone,  then  build  on    that. 
What?     Why,    everything    that    is    pure,    everything    that   is 
lovely,  everything  that  is  honest,  everything  that  is  of  good 
report.     Think  on  these  things.     Get  these  into  character,  for 


4 


50  Bi-centennial  Celebration. 

they  are  Christ-like,  and  build  up  there  on  that  corner-stone  a 
character  that  shall  at  last  be  holy  like  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  then  you  have  done  the  everlasting  best  thing  that  any  per- 
son can  do  in  this  world.  You  have  made  a  soul,  originally 
made  in  the  divine  image,  but  that  image  marred  and  defaced 
by  sin ;  you  have  built  it  back  again,  with  Christ  as  a  founda- 
tion, into  the  beauty  of  holiness,  and  that  will  last  and  be  a  joy 
forever.  May  God  help  you  to  such  a  building  work,  and  may 
you  begin  with  this  hour. 

The  list  of  names  of  scholars  entitled  to  rewards  was  read. 

THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

My  prayer  and  hope  is  that  this  service  of  our  Sabbath-school, 
in  connection  with  the  Bi-Centennial,  may  be  an  inspiration  to 
go  forward  to  even  the  very  youngest  child,  as  the  little  one  re- 
tains this  order  of  services,  growing  older  and  recalling,  it  may 
be,  a  few  words  of  what  you  heard  from  Dr.  Patton  or  Dr. 
Johnson;  and  also  to  the  oldest  of  us  as  we  look  forward  to 
the  better  things  that  await  us  further  on — the  better  things  in 
the  kingdom  on  high  God  has  for  all  His  dear  children.  Let 
us  press  forward,  and  His  blessing  will  ever  be  upon  us. 

HYMN  300. 

BENEDICTION. 


SABBATH  EVENING, 

NOVEMBER  13,  1898. 


ORGAN    PRELUDE.—"  Pastorale— Messiah."— Handel. 
DOXOLOGY. 

INVOCATION.— The   Pastor. 

Unto  Thee  do  we  lift  up  our  eyes,  O  Thou  that  dwellest  in 
the  heavens.  Behold,  as  the  eyes  of  servants  look  unto  the 
hand  of  their  master,  and  as  the  eyes  of  a  maiden  to  the  hand 
of  her  mistress,  so  do  we  look  unto  Thee.  Grant  us  Thy  bless- 
ing. Grant  that  we  may  rejoice  in  Thee,  O  Lord,  to-night,  and 
be  glad  in  the  God  of  our  salvation.  We  ask  it  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  taught  us,  when  we  pray,  to  say  "  Our 
Father,"  etc. 

ANTHEM.— "  Te  Deum  Laudamtjs"  (Festival).— Gounod. 

SCRIPTURE  READING.— Psalm  122. 

CHANT.— "Gloria  in  Excelsis." 

SCRIPTURE   READING.— Rev.  J.  S.  Macintosh,' D.  D.      (Parts  of  the 
Second  and  Fourth  Chapters  of  2  Timothy.) 

HYMN  151. 

PRAYER. — Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.D.,  of  Norwich,  Connecticut. 

O  Almighty  and  Eternal  God,  who  art  the  refuge  and 
dwelling  place  of  Thy  people  in  all   generations,  in  Thee  our 

51 


•52  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

fathers  trusted.  They  trusted  and. Thou  didst  deliver  them,  and 
in  Thee  will  we  put  our  trust.  O  Lord,  let  Thy  mercy  light 
upon  us  according  as  our  trust  is  in  Thee.  O  Lord,  in  Thee 
have  we  trusted.  Let  us  never  be  put  to  confusion,  world  with- 
out end.  We  bless  Thee  at  the  remembrance  of  Thy  benefits,  of 
Thy  faithfulness  and  love  to  all  Thy  flock.  We  thank  Thee 
for  what  Thou  hast  done  for  this  land.  Thou,  who  didst  bring 
hither  the  shoots  of  that  true  vine,  and  plant  them  and  attend 
them  that  the  wild  boar  from  the  woods  should  waste  them  not, 
who  didst  care  for  them  until  they  grew  here  to  be  a  goodly  vine, 
whose  branches  reached  far  to  the  sea  and  to  the  river.  We  bless 
Thee,  O  Lord,  for  all  that  Thou  hast  wrought  here — for  faith- 
ful men  here  who  have  testified  of  the  grace  of  God,  for  the  good- 
ness that  hath  watched  over  this  church  in  times  when  the  fire 
seemed  to  be  consuming,  and  yet  consumed  not.  We  have  turned 
ourselves  aside  to  look  upon  this  great  sight,  and  we  bow  before 
Thee  and  adore.  We  bless  Thee  for  all  that  has  been  wrought 
here — for  the  blessing  of  this  people,  that  here  streams  of  happy 
influence  have  flowed  forth  like  the  rivers  that  make  glad  the 
City  of  God;  that  here  souls  have  been  won  from  sinfulness 
to  the  obedience  of  the  just;  that  here  saintly  lives  have  been 
lived  to  Thee,  and  here, .  dying,  Thy  people  have  testified  to 
Thine  unfailing  grace;  that  here  children  have  grown  up,  taught 
from  their  childhood  to  bless  and  trust  the  holy  name,  and  that 
thus  Thy  name  hath  been  honored  and  glorified  by  them  that 
have  borne  it.  For  all  these  things  we  bless  Thee — for  holy  in- 
fluences, felt  not  here  alone,  but  far  away  in  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
where  are  those  that  give  thanks  because  of  this  people;  and  now, 
looking  back  with  thankfulness,  Ave  look  forward  with  hope  and 
trust  10  Thee.  God,  who  hast  been  with  our  fathers,  be  Thou 
with  our  children  after  us.  Here  be  TI13-  Word  preached,  Thine 
ordinances  administered,  Thy  law  fulfilled  in  saintly  lives,  and 
here  may  the  name  that  is  above  every  name  be  glorified  and 
honored  until  the  Lord  shall  come  again.  Grant,  we  pray  Thee, 
that  thus,  day  by  day,  new  blessings  may  flow  hence.  Grant 
that  so  the  works  of  this   church    may  be  abundant — that  here, 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  53 

amid  the  swarming  multitudes  of  this  great  city,  where  Thou 
hast  multiplied  the  people  and  hast  increased  the  joy,  sower  and 
reaper  may  rejoice  together  with  the  joy  of  the  harvest,  and  as 
with  the  joy  of  them  that  divide  the  spoil.  So  may  many  be 
glad  because  of  this  people,  and  may  they  that  pass  by  say,  "We 
bless  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  Hear  our  prayer  for  this 
church,  and  for  the  congregations  of  Thy  one  holy  Church 
throughout  this  great  city,  with  all  their  ministers.  God  be  with 
us  and  bless  us,  that  Thy  way  may  be  known  upon  earth,  Thy 
saving  health  to  all  nations.  Hear  our  prayer  which  we  offer 
Thee,  we  the  unworthy,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  Thy  Son, 
our  Saviour,  to  whom,  with  Thee,  O  Father,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  be  glory  in  the  Church  throughout  all  ages,  world  without 
end.     Amen. 


THE  PASTOR. 

As  you  may  have  noticed  upon  the  order  of  services,  all  the 
offerings  that  are  made  throughout  this  commemorative  week 
will  be  applied  to  the  Endowment  Fund  of  this  church,  in  order 
that  we  may  yet  more  vigorously,  by  the  help  of  God,  prosecute 
the  wTork  which  is  given  us  to  do.  We  hope  much  from  this 
week  of  festivity,  and  we  do  not  propose  simply  to  look  back, 
but  we  propose  to  look  forward  and  to  get  inspiration  for  better 
and  more  earnest  service  in  the  days  to  come.  As  I  said  to  you 
last  Sabbath  evening,  we  thank  God  that  this  church  has  stood 
through  all  these  years  in  this  part  of  the  city  where  it  at  first 
was  planted.  By  His  blessing  it  shall  continue  to  stand  here ; 
but  we  need  the  sympathy,  we  need  the  prayers  and  we  need  the 
money  of  those  whom  God  has  entrusted  with  it,  that  we  may 
accomplish  our  mission — that  we  may  enlarge  our  activities. 
Something  was  said  this  afternoon  by  Dr.  Johnson  about  build- 
ing ourselves  into  institutions.  I  believe  every  man  and  every 
woman  that,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  gives  to  this  Endowment 
Fund,  and  thus  builds  himself  or  herself  into  this  church,  will 


o4  Bi-eentennkd  Celebration  of  the 

have  reason,  not  only  in  this  life,  but  in  the  life  hereafter,  to  be 
thankful.     The  offering  will  be  taken. 

OFFERTORY.— "  O  Lamb  of  God  "  (Quartette).— Gounod. 

THE  PASTOR. 

We  shall  now  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  Dr.  Herrick  John- 
son, Professor  in  the  McCormick  Theological  Seminary  of 
Chicago,  and  who  for  six  years  was  the  honored  and  beloved 
pastor  of  this  church. 

ADDRESS. — "The  Presbyterian  Bulwarks  of  Liberty  and  Law." 
Rev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Two  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  summer  of  1698,  a  young  man 
came  to  this  town  to  look  after  some  Presbyterians  who  were 
known  to  be  residents  here,  and  who  were  without  church  organ- 
ization, or  pastoral  care.  His  name  was  Jedediah  Andrews. 
The  Church-of-England  minister  then  residing  here,  Thomas 
Clayton,  wrote  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  November  29, 
1698  :  "  I  have  often  talked  with  the  Presbyterian  minister  and 
find  him  such  as  I  could  wish.  They  tell  me,  that  have  heard 
him,  that  he  makes  a  great  noise,  but  this  did  not  amaze  me, 
considering  the  bulk  and  emptiness  of  the  thing — but  he  is  so 
far  from  growing  upon  us  that  he  threatens  to  go  home  in  the 
spring."  But  he  grew  upon  somebody,  and  he  did  not  go  home 
in  the  spring.  Whether  he  kept  on  making  a  great  noise  or  not, 
I  do  not  know.  But  he  kept  on  preaching  the  Gospel  here  for 
nearly  fifty  years.  In  the  letter  book  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  is  another  letter  from  Philadelphia, 
written  in  February,  1702,  saying,  "They  have  here  a  Presby- 
terian meeting  and  minister,  one  called  Andrews,  but  they  are 
not  like  to  increase  here."  Another  unfulfilled  prophecy.  And 
Talbot  writes  in  September,  17CKJ,  to  the  secretary  of  this  same 
society,  "The  Presbyterians  have  come  a  great  way  to  lay  hands 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  55 

one  on  another ;  but,  after  all,  I  think  they  had  as  good  stay  at 
home  for  the  good  they  do." 

These  writers  evidently  had  not  taken  the  true  measure  of 
Presbyterian  grace  and  grit.  When  this  church  was  organized, 
it  was  the  day  of  small  things  for  American  Presbyterianism. 
The  18th  century  opened  with  only  one  Presbyterian  minister  in 
the  entire  Colony  of  Pennsylvania.  But  the  mere  handful  of 
corn  that  represented  Presbyterian  planting  in  those  early  days, 
grew  and  grew,  until  "the  fruit  thereof"  has  "shaken  like 
Lebanon."  In  1706  the  first  American  Classical  Presbytery  was 
organized — The  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  By  1716  the  Pres- 
bytery had  grown  so  large,  and  covered  so  wide  an  area,  that  it 
was  divided  into  three  Presbyteries,  forming  a  Synod,  which  first 
met  the  next  year.  Toward  the  close  of  the  last  century  the 
American  Presbyterian  Church  had  reached  such  proportions, 
that  it  was  impossible  for  even  a  majority  of  the  ministers  to 
come  together  in  the  annual  Synod.  Some  kind  of  representa- 
tion was  rendered  necessary.  This  led,  in  1788,  to  the  organ- 
ization of  the  General  Assembly,  with  four  Synods  and  sixteen 
Presbyteries,  and  the  first  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  United  States  of  America  met  in  this  city  in  1789. 

Thus  the  American  Presbyterian  Church  came  to  its  full  or- 
ganic form,  commensurate  at  last  with  the  needs  of  a  continent, 
and  with  all  the  possibilities  of  development  and  enlargement  of 
the  new  nation  that  had  just  been  born  in  the  fires  of  Revolution. 

In  1786  the  Synod  ordered  the  preparation  of  "  a  book  of  dis- 
cipline and  government  .  .  .  accommodated  to  the  state  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  America."  This  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  committee,  of  which  Dr.  Witherspoon  was  chairman. 
It  is  a  striking  and  memorable  coincidence  that  while  in  this 
very  city  the  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  1787,  was 
discussing  and  amending  the  report  of  Witherspoon  and  his  as- 
sociates, and  seeking  the  best  possible  embodiment  of  Presby- 
terianism as  an  organized,  representative  and  constitutional  gov- 
ernment, the  Constitutional  Convention  was  also  at.  the  same 
time,  in  this  same  city,  debating  and  determining  the  best  form 


56  Bi-centennkd  Celebration  of  the 

of  government  for  the  new  nation.  Through  those  preceding 
revolutionary  years  discussion  had  been  at  white  heat.  It  was 
Monarch  and  Prelate  against  Puritan  and  Presbyter.  While  the 
Joshuas  came  across  the  sea  for  liberty  of  conscience,  intolerance, 
as  a  kind  of  demoniac  possession  or  devil  incarnate,  came  also. 
Makemie  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  unlawfully  on  the  charge 
of  preaching  without  a  license.  Dissent  was  accounted  as  ob- 
noxious here  as  in  England.  Men  became  exiles  from  their 
native  land  because  of  persecution  and  oppression,  only  to  find 
the  yoke  of  intolerance  fastened  to  their  necks  this  side  of  the 
sea.  The  Westminster  divines,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  be- 
fore, were  set  to  the  long  task  of  determining  what  God's  word 
authorized  as  doctrine  and  government  for  Christ's  kingdom  on 
earth.  The  issues  of  that  historic  assembly  made  it  forever  clear 
that  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  to  stand  for  a  certain  system 
of  doctrine  and  a  certain  form  of  government.  And  in  that 
Assembly,  made  up  of  Presbyterians,  Independents  and  Eras- 
tians,  one  of  the  battles  of  the  giants,  that  raged  the  longest  and 
that  was  fought  the  most  vehemently,  was  on  the  Form  of  Gov- 
ernment that  Christ  the  King  had  given  his  Church.  They  de- 
clared for  a  government  by  elders,  as  representatives  of  the 
people.  They  found  it  facing  them  on  almost  every  page  of 
New  Testament  history.  Indeed,  they  lifted  it  up  to  such  con- 
spicuity,  and  so  interlaced  and  interlocked  it  in  a  system  of 
graded  courts,  that  some  of  their  enemies  charged  that  "  Presby- 
ter" was  only  "  Priest  writ  large."  But  not  a  shred  of  Prelacy 
or  Papacy  can  be  found  in  the  garments  these  Presbyterian  weav- 
ers wove.  Their  doctrine  of  the  universal  priesthood  of  believ- 
ers left  no  room  for  Pope  or  Prelate. 

But  intrepid  and  lion-hearted  as  those  Westminsters  were, 
they  still  stood  in  the  shadow  of  Caesar.  And  though  defending 
the  crown  rights  of  their  King,  they  did  not  come  to  the  full  in- 
heritance of  Christ's  freemen.  For  they  suffered  an  appeal  from 
the  courts  of  Christ  to  Ca?sar,  and  thus  recognized,  in  matters 
that  were, purely  ecclesiastical  and  spiritual,  the  power  of  the 
civil  magistrate. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  57 

When,  however,  our  American  Presbyterian  Fathers,  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  after,  met  to  form  "  a  government  accommo- 
dated to  the  state  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  America,"  they 
had  been  utterly  cured  of  this  plague  of  Csesarism.  Led  by 
Witherspoon,  whose  blood  still  tingled  with  the  thrill  of  the 
hour  when  he  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  they  took 
the  Confession  of  Faith  in  hand,  here  in  this  city,  in  1787,  and 
without  any  scrupulosities  of  reverence  for  it  as  a  venerable  sym- 
bol, and  in  absolute  indifference  to  possibilities  of  patchwork, 
stripped  it  of  every  vestige  of  Erastianism,  and  ordered  a  thou- 
sand copies  of  the  plan,  as  thus  amended,  printed  for  distribution 
among  the  Presbyteries,  "  for  their  consideration,  and  the  consid- 
eration of  the  churches  under  their  care."  In  the  next  Synod, 
1788,  after  further  amendment  and  full  discussion,  the  whole 
plan  was  finally  adopted  as  "  The  Constitution  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." 

Thus  the  government  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  made 
consistent  in  its  entire  and  absolute  separation  of  Church  and 
State.  The  completed  work  became  a  bulwark  of  Christian 
liberty,  and  it  stands  to-day  four  square  to  all  the  winds  of 
Csesarism  and  the  Papacy. 

But  these  Presbyterian  Fathers  did  more  than  this.  They 
made  a  luminous  and  comprehensive  statement  of  "the  general 
principles"  by  which  they  had  been  governed  in  the  formation 
of  the  plan.  These  principles  are  basilar  and  structural ;  they 
enter  vitally  into  our  form  of  government  and  discipline.  They 
are  at  once  its  foundation  and  its  vindication.  For  the  clearness 
and  comprehensiveness  of  this  declaration  of  principles,  for  its 
balance  and  poise,  for  its  grasp  of  fundamentals,  for  its  truths 
whose  very  statement,  when  once  understood,  makes  them  seem 
almost  axiomatic,  for  its  safe-guarding  of  sacred  rights,  for  its 
just  limitations  put  about  liberty  to  keep  liberty  from  license, 
and  for  its  equally  just  limitations  put  about  power  to  keep 
power  from  tyranny, — for  all  this,  and  also  for  the  lofty  spirit- 
ual tone  and  the  calm  judicial  temper  pervading  it,  I  know 
nothing  to  match  it,  of  its  kind  and  within  the  same  compass,  in 


58  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

all  literature.  It  has  been  too  much  hidden  under  a  bushel. 
In  a  ministry  of  forty  years  I  have  never  once  heard  it  publicly 
referred  to.  In  the  histories  I  have  consulted  it  is  passed  by 
with  the  barest  mention.  It  is  my  desire  on  this  signal  anni- 
versary occasion,  in  the  time  still  left  me,  to  make  it  as  a  city 
set  on  a  hill,  that  it  may  give  light  to  those  who  are  yet  in  dark- 
ness as  to  Presbyterian  government  and  discipline,  and  that  it 
may  more  wisely  do  what  its  authors  hoped  it  would  when  they 
gave  it  to  the  world — viz.,  "  prevent  those  rash  misconceptions 
and  uncandid  reflections  which  usually  proceed  from  an  imper- 
fect view  of  any  subject." 

These  fathers  of  American  Presbyterianism  were  "  unan- 
imously of  opinion  " — 

First.  "  That  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience,  and  hath 
left  it  free  from  the  doctrines  and  commandments  of  men  which 
are  in  anything  contrary  to  his  word,  or  beside  it  in  matters 
of  faith  or  worship." 

This  supreme  assertion  of  freedom  of  conscience  is  taken  from 
the  bosom  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  where  it  had  been  placed 
by  the  Westminster  divines  when  they  wrought  out  the  doc- 
trinal standards  in  the  famous  Assembly  of  1643.  Our  Amer- 
ican Presbyterian  fathers  copied  it  from  the  Confession  and  lifted 
it  to  the  foremost  place  in  the  Form  of  Government,  where  it 
leads  the  brilliant  galaxy  of  principles  for  which  many  have 
died  and  millions  more  have  been  willing  to  die.  It  is  our  im- 
mortal Presbyterian  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  matches 
and  surpasses  Thomas  Jefferson's  world-famous  manifesto,  that 
"all  men  are  created  equal,  and  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  Let  me  repeat  this  first  prin- 
ciple of  Presbyterian  government :  "  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the 
conscience,  and  hath  left  it  free  from  the  doctrines  and  com- 
mandments of  men  which  are  in  anything  contrary  to  his  word, 
or  beside  it  in  matters  of  faith  or  worship."  To  this  the  fathers 
added  in  this  same  first  section  the  following  irresistible  sequitur : 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  59 

"Therefore  they  consider  the  rights  of  private  judgment  in  all 
matters  that  respect  religion  as  universal  and  inalienable.  They 
do  not  ever  wish  to  see  any  religious  constitution  aided  by  the 
civil  power  further  than  may  be  necessary  for  protection  and 
security,  and  at  the  same  time  be  equal  and  common  to  all 
others." 

True  to  this  declaration,  they  swept  everything  out  of  the 
Confession  that  looked  at  all  like  union  of  Church  and  State. 
And  they  made  clean  work  of  it.  Not  a  vestige  of  the  union 
of  Christ  and  Caesar  was  left.  No  king  but  Christ.  No  vicar 
of  Christ,  usurping  lordship.  A  conscience  free  from  all  com- 
mandments of  men  that  are  not  commandments  of  God.  The 
right  of  private  judgment  in  matters  of  religion  inalienable ; 
nay,  more  :  no  alliance  with  the  State  whatsoever ;  no  aid  to  any 
religious  constitution  by  the  civil  power,  save  in  the  protection 
of  rights  common  to  all ;  that  is  to  say,  no  public  money  for 
sectarian  use. 

These  are  the  ringing  words  by  which  the  Presbyterian 
Church  irrevocably  commits  herself  to  the  crown  rights  of  her 
Lord  and  King.  The  principle  is  held  by  other  evangelical 
faiths.  But  it  has  been  given  a  rare  historical  setting  by  Pres- 
byterians ;  notably  when  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  in  1843, 
left  her  earthly  all  rather  than  bow  to  the  behest  of  civil  magis- 
tracy, and  her  four  hundred  ministers  turned  their  backs  upon 
manses  and  glebes  and  benefices,  and  boldly  walked  forth  to  be 
God's  freemen  ;  and  notably  again  when  the  American  Presby- 
terian Church  placed  this  principle  first  and  chief  of  all  in  the 
charter  of  her  God-given  rights — set  it  as  the  crown  jewel  in  her 
diadem  of  Christian  loyalty  and  liberty. 

I  need  hardly  say  to  you  that  there  are  portents  of  a  coming 
time  when  we  and  other  faiths  of  God's  free  hosts  may  be 
obliged  to  stand  for  this  principle  as  with  faces  of  steel  and 
consciences  incarnate  against  a  wily,  grasping  ecclesiasticism 
whose  history  js  black  with  the  record  of  her  usurpation  of 
powers  that  belong  to  our  Lord  and  King  alone. 

I  pass  now  to  a  consideration  of  the  second  principle  affirmed 


60  Bi-eentenniaJ  Celebration  of  the 

by  the  fathers  in  the  first  chapter  of  our  Form  of  Govern- 
ment. 

They  are  unanimously  of  opinion — 

Second.  "That,  in  perfect  consistency  with  the  above  principle 
of  common  right,  every  Christian  church  or  union  or  association 
of  particular  churches  is  entitled  to  declare  the  terms  of  admis- 
sion into  its  communion  and  the  qualifications  of  its  ministers 
and  members." 

This  statement  seems  almost  axiomatic.  It  is  the  common 
law  of  organization.  Safeguarded  interests  are  impossible  with- 
out it.  The  bride  of  Christ  must  keep  her  robe  unsoiled.  She 
has  a  God-given  stewardship.  Shall  anybody  be  admitted  to 
her  communion  ?  Shall  she  put  her  imprimatur  on  every  veriest 
tramp  that  claims  to  be  commissioned  of  heaven  to  preach  the 
Gospel  ?  How  could  she  keep  her  peace,  or  care  for  that  which 
Christ  had  committed  to  her,  if  she  flung  her  gates  and  her  pulpit 
wide  open  and  let  the  whole  motley  world  in  to  her  communion 
and  her  ambassadorship  without  condition  and  without  limita- 
tion ?  If  terms  of  church  and  ministerial  fellowship  are  to  be 
made  at  all,  who  shall  make  them  and  determine  their  nature 
and  spirit  if  not  the  Church  herself,  in  the  light  and  under  the 
law  of  that  Word  which  Christ  has  given  her  ?  It  is  true  that, 
in  the  exercise  of  this  right,  any  particular  church  or  association 
of  churches  may  err  "in  making  the  terms  of  communion  either 
too  lax  or  too  narrow."  But  even  in  this  ease,  said  these  Pres- 
byterian fathers,  "  they  do  not  infringe  upon  the  liberty  or  rights 
of  others,  but  only  make  an  improper  use  of  their  own." 

Now  what  are  the  terms  of  communion  imposed  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Church?  Looking  into  the  New  Testament  record  of 
the  early  church,  she  found  only  one  condition  of  church  mem- 
bership, viz.,  belief  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  a  Saviour ;  and 
that,  and  that  only,  she  has  placed  at  the  door  of  her  com- 
munion. She  demands  no  assent  to  an  extended  creed.  She 
presses  no  question  about  a  system  of  doctrine.  She  seeks  to 
know  simply  whether  the  applicant  for  admission  to  her  fold  is 
a  Christian — a  loving,  obedient  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ.     If  he 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  61 

be  that,  he  is  welcome  to  all  the  privileges  of  her  church  mem- 
bership. Any  true  child  of  God,  of  whatever  name  or  creed, 
may  come  knocking  at  the  door  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  ask- 
ing "  What  doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptized  ?"  and  the  swift 
answer  shall  be,  "  If  thou  believest  with  all  thy  heart,  thou 
mayest."  He  may  have  imperfect  views  of  Christ ;  he  may 
stumble  at  the  Trinity ;  he  may  have  doubts  about  the  mode  of 
baptism;  he  maybe  an  Arminian  as  to  the  decree,  or  a  Pela- 
gian as  to  the  human  will,  or  a  Lutheran  as  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  or  a  Sabellian,  a  Swedenborgian,  a  Congregationalist, 
a  Prelatist.  No  matter.  Has  he  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  does 
he  believe  there  is  none  other  name  given  under  heaven  among 
men  whereby  he  can  be  saved  ?  Then  the  Presbyterian  Church 
says  his  place  is  within  Christ's  visible  fold,  and  without  a  ques- 
tion as  to  his  orthodoxy  in  any  other  regard  she  opens  wide  her 
door  to  welcome  him.  And  her  ground  and  warrant  for  this  is 
that,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  there  should  be  no  conditions 
of  church  membership  which  are  not  conditions  of  salvation. 
Surely  the  Church  should  receive  to  her  fold  anybody  that  she 
has  reason  to  believe  Christ  would  receive  to  his.  What  pos- 
sible right  have  we  to  make  it  harder  to  get  into  the  Church 
than  it  is  to  get  into  heaven '? 

This  is  no  new,  no  individual  opinion — outside  judgment  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding.  It  is  the  historic  position  of  the 
American  Presbyterian  Church.  In  the  Adopting  Act  of  1729 
— more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago — when  the  ques- 
tion of  subscription  to  the  doctrinal  standards  was  up  for  settle- 
ment, while  the  Synod  claimed  the  right  and  avowed  the  neces- 
sity of  demanding  of  its  ministers  an  assent  to  all  the  essential 
and  necessary  articles  of  the  Confession  of  Faith,  it  made  this 
distinct  avowal  concerning  all  applicants  for  admission  to  church 
membership,  viz. :  "  We  are  willing  to  admit  to  fellow  ship  in  sacred 
ordinances  all  such  as  we  have  ground  to  believe  Christ  will  at  last 
admit  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Thus  we  build  no  wall  about  our  communion  that  Christ  hath 
not  built.     Our  banner  is  inscribed  with  "  Whosoever  believeth, 


62  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

let  him  come."  We  bar  out  no  Christian  because  of  his  intel- 
lectual doctrinal  conviction.  Instead,  therefore,  of  our  being; 
bigoted  and  narrow,  as  is  often  charged,  binding  a  rigid  creed 
on  the  brow  of  every  believer  as  a  condition  of  church  member- 
ship, there  is  scarcely  so  broad  and  free  a  communion  in  all  the 
ranks  of  evangelical  Christendom. 

But  still  further  did  the  Presbyterian  fathers  lay  down  the 
principles  of  church  government. 

They  are  unanimously  of  opinion — 

Third.  "That  our  blessed  Saviour,  for  the  edification  of  the 
visible  Church,  which  is  his  body,  hath  appointed  officers  not 
only  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  administer  the  sacraments,  but 
also  to  exercise  discipline  for  the  preservation  both  of  truth  and 
duty." 

They  agree  with  the  Westminster  divines  of  a  century  and  a 
half  before  them  that  "  The  Lord  Jesus,  as  King  and  Head  of 
his  Church,  hath  herein  appointed  a  government  in  the  hand  of 
church  officers  distinct  from  the  civil  magistrate." 

On  the  ground  of  antecedent  probability  they  would  reach 
this  conclusion.  The  government  of  God's  Church  would  seem 
to  be  too  vital  a  thing — of  too  vast  concern  and  covering  too 
many  interests — to  be  left  to  the  varying  caprice  and  prejudice 
of  even  regenerated  Christian  men.  Christ  came  to  establish  a 
kingdom ;  but  a  kingdom  implies  government,  and  a  govern- 
ment without  a  form  of  government  is  impossible.  Christ 
surely  did  not  set  up  a  kingdom  only  to  leave  it  with  no  regu- 
lative principles  and  no  offices  of  rule,  without  order  and  with- 
out law.     This  would  be  to  leave  it  a  mob. 

But  these  men  were  not  content  to  rest  so  important  a  matter 
on  the  mere  warrant  of  antecedent  probability,  so  they  searched 
the  New  Testament  Scriptures  to  ascertain  the  kind  of  govern- 
ment Christ  left  his  Church.  They  found  clear  record  of  the 
following  facts :  That  there  were  authorized  rulers  in  the  early 
Church ;  that  these  rulers  were  elders ;  that  elders  and  bishops 
were  identical,  the  titles  being  used  interchangeably ;  and  that 
there  was  a  plurality  of  these  elders  or  bishops  in  every  church. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  63 

And  they  came  with  overwhelming  and  unanimous  conviction 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  government  of  the  New  Testament  church 
was  a  government  by  elders. 

The  record  is  unmistakable.  He  who  runs  may  read.  The 
persons  we  meet  oftenest  in  the  inspired  account  of  early  church 
organization  and  activity  are  the  elders.  They  come  into  view 
everywhere.  There  were  elders  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem 
(Acts  15  :  11);  elders  in  the  church  at  Ephesus  (Acts  20  :  1); 
elders  in  the  church  of  the  Dispersion  (1  Peter  5:1);  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  on  returning  from  their  first  missionary  tour,  "  ap- 
pointed elders  in  every  church"  (Acts  14  :  23) ;  Titus,  in  Crete, 
"appointed  elders  in  every  city."  What  were  the  duties  of 
these  elders?  Just  what  they  are  now  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  They  were  rulers — officers  of  government.  Paul,  in 
his  letter  to  Timothy,  charged  that  the  elders  that  rule  well  be 
counted  worthy  of  double  honor.  (1  Timothy  5  :  17.)  In  his 
letter  to  the  church  at  Rome,  while  speaking  of  different  gifts 
in  the  church,  he  says :  "  He  that  ruleth  "  let  him  rule  "  with 
diligence."  (Rom.  12:8.)  In  his  letter  to  the  Thessalonian 
church  he  speaks  of  those  that  were  "set  over  them  in  the 
Lord."  (Thes.  5  :  12.)  In  his  talk  with  the  elders  of  the 
church  at  Ephesus  he  says  :  "  Take  heed  to  all  the  flock,  in 
the  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  made  '  you  bishops."  (Acts 
20  :  28.)  In  the  letter  to  the  Hebrews,  Christians  are  bidden 
to  "remember,"  and  "obey"  and  "submit  to"  those  in  the 
church  who  "had  the  rule  over  them."  (Heb.  13  :  7-17.)  But 
ruling  was  not  all.  They  were  to  "  watch  in  behalf  of  souls." 
(Heb.  7:17.)  They  were  to  "  speak  the  word  of  God."  (Heb. 
7  :  17.)  Paul  bids  the  elders  of  Ephesus  "feed  the  church  of 
God."  (Acts  20  :  28.)  Peter  exhorts  the  elders  to  "  tend  the 
flock  of  God,  exercising  the  office  of  a  bishop."  James  tells  the 
Christians  of  the  dispersion,  "  Is  any  sick  among  you,  let  him 
send  for  the  elders  of  the  church."  And  Paul,  in  his  letter  to 
Timothy,  commends  especially  those  of  the  elders  who  "  labor 
in  the  Word  and  in  teaching." 

This  is  the  New  Testament  doctrine  of  the  eldership.     These 


64  Bi-centennkd  Celebration  of  the 

following  things  lie  on  the  very  surface  of  Scripture,  viz. :  There 
was  a  plurality  of  elders  in  every  church,  even  in  the  small  mis- 
sion churches;  these  elders  all  ruled;  they  were  officers  of  gov- 
ernment; they  watched  over  the  flock  of  God ;  they  exercised 
the  functions  of  a  bishop ;  and  some  of  them,  at  least,  not  only 
ruled  but  preached  the  Gospel — "  labored  in  the  Word  and  in 
teaching."  Surely  our  Presbyterian  fathers  had  a  right  to  say 
"  The  Lord  Jesus,  as  King  and  Head  of  his  Church,  hath 
therein  appointed  a  government  in  the  hands  of  church  officers." 
And  for  naming  these  officers  "  elders  "  they  had  a  "  thus  saith 
the  Lord." 

But  still  further,  in  laying  down  the  fundamental  principles 
of  church  government  these  Presbyterian  fathers  are  unani- 
mously of  opinion — 

Fourth.  "That  truth  is  in  order  to  goodness,  and  the  great 
touchstone  of  truth  its  tendency  to  promote  holiness,  accord- 
ing to  our  Saviour's  rule,  '  by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them.'  And  that  no  opinion  can  be  either  more  pernicious  or 
more  absurd  than  that  which  brings  truth  and  falsehood  upon 
a  level  and  represents  it  as  of  no  consequence  what  a  man's 
opinions  are.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  persuaded  that  there 
is  an  inseparable  connection  between  faith  and  practice,  truth 
and  duty.  Otherwise  it  would  be  of  no  consequence  either  to 
discover  truth  or  to  embrace  it." 

This  admirable  principle  never  had  better  expression.  The 
Church  of  God  is  put  in  trust  of  God's  truth.  But  what  profit 
is  it  that  we  keep  his  truth  if  it  is  of  no  consequence  what  a 
man's  opinions  are,  and  there  be  no  inseparable  connection  be- 
tween faith  and  life?  Paul's  terrific  arraignment  of  men  was 
that  they  had  "  exchanged  the  truth  of  God  for  a  lie."  The 
consequence  of  that  exchange  was  that  they  became  "  vain  in 
their  reasonings,"  and  their  senseless  heart  was  darkened.  Of 
course  all  truth  is  not  in  order  to  goodness.  The  truth  of  the 
Copernican  theory  of  the  universe,  or  of  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  or  of  the  correlation  and  conservation  of  force,  or  of  a 


THE   BARBADOES   STORE,    IN   WHICH   THE    FIRST 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  FIRST  MET,  1698. 


>^.^^«w-:^r 


""'**» 


OLD    BUTTONW00O 


ERECTED  IN  1704  ON  THE  SOUTH  SIDE  OF  MARKET  STREET, 

CORNER  OF  WHITE  HORSE  ALLEY,  NOW  BANK 

STREET.     IT  WAS  REBUILT  IN  1794. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  65 

problem  in  mathematics,  may  be  accepted  or  denied  without 
making  a  man  the  better  or  the  worse.  But  this  is  not  the 
kind  of  truth  these  men  of  God 'were  talking  about  when  they 
were  laying  down  the  fundamental  principles  of  church  govern- 
ment. They  meant  the  truth  of  revelation ;  the  truth  of  God's 
word  ;  the  truth  that  vitally  touches  life,  and  harnesses  itself  to 
the  human  will  and  goes  down  into  character.  It  was  with  this 
clear  limitation  that  they  said  "  Truth  is  in  order  to  goodness, 
and  the  great  touchstone  of  truth  its  tendency  to  promote  holi- 
ness." 

The  principle  needs  no  proof.  Its  statement  is  its  demonstra- 
tion. Under  the  conviction  of  this  principle  they  are  unani- 
mously of  opinion — 

Fifth.  "  That  it  is  necessary  to  make  effectual  provision  that 
all  ivho  are  admitted  as  teachers  be  sound  in  the  faith" 

Here  we  see  a  marked  and  important  difference  between  terms 
of  admission  to  the  Church  and  terms  of  admission  to  office  in 
the  Church.  Ready  as  our  Presbyterian  fathers  were  to  receive 
into  church  membership  any  and  all  whom  they  had  reason  to 
believe  Christ  would  admit  to  heaven,  they  nevertheless  thought 
it  necessary  to  make  effectual  provision  that  the  officers  of  the 
Church,  to  whom  is  intrusted  the  teaching  and  preaching  of  the 
Word,  be  sound  in  the  faith.  The  reason  for  this  necessity  is 
not  far  to  seek.  The  Presbyterian  Church  stands  for  a  certain 
system  of  doctrine  and  a  certain  form  of  government.  She  be- 
lieves God's  word  teaches  that  system  of  doctrine  and  authorizes 
that  form  of  government ;  she  believes  that  these  are  nearer  the 
mind  of  God  as  revealed  in  the  Word  than  are  the  systems  of 
doctrine  and  governmental  forms  of  other  evangelical  faiths; 
and  she  believes  the  differences  are  so  important,  and  affect 
Christian  character  and  church  efficiency  so  vitally,  as  not  only 
to  justify  her  separate  and  continued  existence  as  a  branch  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  but  also  to  bring  her  to  the  maintenance  of  her 
faith  with  a  mighty  constraint  of  conscience. 

This  is  her  reason  for  being — the  only  ground  of  her  separate 


66  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

existence.  If  she  has  nothing  distinctive  in  faith  and  govern- 
ment which  she  thinks  her  Lord  has  put  her  in  trust  of,  she  is 
guilty  of  schism,  of  dividing  Christ's  body  without  cause,  and 
she  ought  not  to  maintain  her  separate  organization — no !  not 
for  an  hour. 

But  her  martyrs  have  not  died  for  nothing.  She  has  not 
fought  with  the  wild  beasts  of  tyranny  and  intolerance  with  no 
stay  and  courage  from  her  great  truths.  She  has  not  grown 
oaks  without  congenial  soil.  She  has  gone  through  two  and  a 
half  centuries  thinking,  in  her  heart  of  hearts,  she  saw  in  Holy 
Scripture  some  doctrines  of  sin  and  grace  and  some  principles  of 
government  that  needed  to  be  embodied  in  a  system  if  all  God's 
truth  were  to  be  told  and  used  in  making  Christ's  kingdom 
come.  So  she  wrought  out  her  Confession  of  Faith  and  her 
Form  of  Government  and  published  them  to  the  world.  Who 
shall  question  her  right  to  do  this?  Nay,  who  shall  challenge 
her  duty  to  do  it?  And,  conceding  her  right  to  confess  her 
faith,  who  shall  challenge  her  right  to  guard  and  keep  it?  And 
by  what  better  way  can  she  keep  it  than  by  "  making  effectual 
provision  that  all  who  are  admitted  as  teachers  must  be  sound 
in  that  faith  "  ? 

Clearly  wolves  must  not  be  given  the  liberty  of  -the  flocks  of 
God.  Pulpits  must  not  be  open  to  false  teachers,  privily  bring- 
ing in  sects  of  perdition,  denying  even  the  Lord  that  bought 
them.  This  goes  without  saying.  But  more  goes  with  it  that 
needs  to  be  said,  and  said  with  emphasis.  When  men  come  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church  seeking  the  solemn  sanction  of  ordina- 
tion to  her  offices  or  of  admission  to  her  ministry,  she  surely  has 
a  right  to  know  their  attitude  towards  her  doctrine  and  govern- 
ment. Her  doctrine  is  embodied  in  her  published  Confession 
of  Faith. 

So  one  of  the  questions  to  be  asked  of  all  men  before  they  can 
be  enrolled  as  office-bearers  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
accredited  as  her  duly  authorized  official  teachers  and  preachers, 
is  this : 

"  Do  you  sincerely  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  67 


of  this  church  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the 
Scriptures?" 

The  Confession  of  Faith  is  the  doctrine  of  the  word  of  God  as 
interpreted  by  the  Presbyterian  Church.  She  has  embodied  it 
in  a  system.  She  believes  this  system  is  taught  in  the  Holy 
Scripture.  She  asks  for  no  ipsissima  verba  subscription.  Many 
specific  detailed  statements  might  be  doubted,  or  denied,  without 
affecting  the  integrity  of  the  system.  But  three  historic  phases 
of  belief  are  unchallengeably  included  in  this  Presbyterian  Con- 
fession of  Faith.  First,  the  evangelical  system,  common  to  all 
evangelical  churches  of  whatsoever  name  and  embracing  the 
doctrines  essential  to  salvation.  The  extremest  advocate  of  liberty 
of  subscription  would  not  for  one  moment  contend  that  any  true 
church  of  Jesus  Christ  could  demand  less  than  this.  Neither 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  nor  any  other  Christian  church,  could 
ordain  to  her  ministry  an  atheist  or  an  infidel  without  denying 
the  Lord  that  bought  her. 

But  the  system  of  doctrine  in  the  Presbyterian  Confession  em- 
braces also  the  Protestant  system  as  opposed  to  the  Roman 
Catholic.  And  neither  here  can  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the 
right  of  the  Presbyterian,  or  any  other  Protestant  church,  to  de- 
mand as  a  condition  of  entering  her  ministry  an  acceptance  and 
adoption  of  the  Protestant  system  as  contained  in  her  Confession 
of  Faith.  Not  without  treachery  to  the  one  sole  Head  of  the 
Church  could  she  ordain  a  man  to  her  ministry  who  leaned  to 
altars  and  crucifixes  and  the  worship  of  the  Virgin,  and  the 
real  presence,  aud  the  infallibility  of  the  sovereign  Pontiff. 

But  still  another  system  of  doctrine  is  in  the  Presbyterian  Con- 
fession of  Faith.  It  is  commonly  known  as  the  Reformed  or  Cal- 
vinistic  system.  This  system,  first  of  all,  exalts  God,  places  him  on 
his  eternal  throne,  in  active,  undivided,  unconditioned  sovereign- 
ty. It  humbles  man  as  a  sinner  and  smites  him  with  a  sense  of 
spiritual  impotence.  But  it  glorifies  him  in  Christ  as  a  believer, 
to  which  glory  it  declares  him  chosen  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  be- 
fore the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  effectually  called  in  the 
fullness  of  time,  and  the  eternal  realization  of  which  has  been 


68  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

made  forever  sure  to  him;  so  that,  once  in  Christ,  he  is  always  in 
Christ,  and  can  never  perish. 

It  is  this  system,  as  well  as  the  common  evangelical  system 
and  the  common  Protestant  system,  Presbyterianism  has  em- 
bodied in  her  Confession  of  Faith;  and  it  is  this,  as  well  as  the 
other  two,  which  she,  in  her  exercise  of  government,  demands 
assent  to,  and  adoption  of,  before  any  one  can  enter  her  ministry. 
Has  she  a  right  to  place  this  condition  at  the  door  of  entrance  to 
her  official  stewardship  of  the  mysteries  of  God  ? 

We  might  better  ask,  Has  she  a  right  to  do  otherwise  ?  Can 
she  do  otherwise  without  betraying  her  trust '?  This  Calvinistic 
system  of  doctrine  is  her  peculiar  testimony.  This  and  her  Form 
of  Government  are  the  justification  of  her  existence.  To  witness 
to  this  strong  doctrine  of  God  and  sin  and  salvation . she  was 
especially  set.  She  believes  that  the  system,  in  all  its  essential 
and  necessary  parts,  is  in  Holy  Scriptures,  a  sacred  and  import- 
ant part  of  the  trust  of  truth  God  has  committed  to  his  Church. 
Belief  in  it  has  helped  her  make  two  and  a  half  centuries  of  no 
mean  history.  In  this  soil  of  doctrine  and  in  this  air  of  liberty 
she  has  grown  her  oaks.  It  is  no  wonder  she  loves  and  keeps 
her  faith. 

Suppose  now  an  applicant  appears  for  admission  to  her  minis- 
try, who  is  manifestly  a  true  believer,  accepting  the  Scriptures  as 
the  word  of  God,  and  bowing  in  joyful  obedience  to  Jesus  Christ 
as  his  Saviour  and  Lord.  He  is  asked  the  usual  question  :  "Do 
you  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  this  church  as 
containing  the  system  of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Scriptures?" 

He  answers,  "  I  receive  and  adopt  the  Confession  as  containing 
the  evangelical  and  the  Protestant  system  of  doctrine,  but  I  can- 
not adopt  its  Calvinistic  system,  for  I  do  not  find  it  in  the  Scrip- 
tures." 

Clearly  this  is  no  case  of  a  man  challenging  the  crown  rights 
of  Christ.  Instead,  he  joyfully  crowns  him  Lord  of  all.  This 
is  no  case  of  a  false  teacher,  bringing  in  damnable  heresies  and 
denying  the  Lord  that  bought  him.  He  will  preach  no  word 
that  will   drown  men   in   destruction    and   perdition  ;   for  he  be- 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  69 

lieves  with  his  whole  heart  in  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel 
essential  to  salvation.  But  he  does  not  believe  in  the  Calvinistic 
system  of  theology.  In  other  words,  he  is  not  a  Presbyterian ;, 
for  the  Presbyterian  Olmrch  does  believe  in  the  Calvinistic  sys- 
tem. It  has  the  indorsement  of  her  scholarship,  her  conscience 
and  her  heart,  as  God's  own  truth  to  which  she  owes  much  of 
her  iron  nerve  and  rootedness,  preferring-  rather,  in  the  strength 
of  her  high  thought  of  God,  "to  be  ground  to  powder  like  flint 
than  to  bend  before  violence."  Yet  she  is  to  receive  this  man, 
though  he  does  not  and  will  not  receive  the  truth  she  holds  as 
her  peculiar  heritage.  She  is  to  enroll  him  in  her  ministerial 
ranks,  and  he  is  henceforth  to. preach  in  her  pulpits,  be  installed 
over  her  churches,  minister  at  her  altars,  and  feed  her  lambs.  In 
God's  name,  she  cannot  do  this  inconsistent  thing.  It  would  be 
a  label  that  told  a  lie,  a  house  divided  against  itself,  a  suicide 
by  self-contradiction. 

But  in  thus  taking  care  that  her  faith  be  kept,  she  is  doing 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  of  two  things  with  which  she  is 
often  charged  in  this  matter  of  safe-guarding  her  ministry.  She 
thereby  imposes  no  faith  on  other  men's  consciences.  She  simply 
stands  for  her  own  Confession.  And  she  thereby  casts  no  reflection 
on  the  applicant  she  declines  to  receive.  She  simply  recognizes 
the  fact,  as  our  Presbyterian  lathers  declare  in  this  same  section 
of  fundamental  principles,  that  "there  are  truths  and  forms  with 
respect  to  which  men  of  good  characters  and  principles  may 
differ."  Thus  she  blends  a  broad  Christian  charity  with  tena- 
cious doctrinal  conviction.  She  knows  that  a  great  proportion 
of  Christendom,  endowed  with  learning,  and  rich  with  men  of 
keen  intellects  and  consecrated  hearts,  whose  reverent  study  of 
God's  word,  and  whose  enthusiastic  devotion  to  Christ,  it  would 
be  folly  to  question,  do  not  find  the  Calvinistic  system  in  the 
word  of  God,  and  do  not  believe  it  is  the  word  of  God.  In  other 
words,  perhaps  the  majority  of  those  who  love  Christ,  obey  his 
will,  fight  his  battles,  and  hope  for  heaven  only  through  his 
cross,  do  not  believe  as  we  do,  who  stand  for  Presbyterian  gov- 
ernment and  Presbyterian  doctrine.     This  should  make  us,  not 


70  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

less  inflexibly  loyal  to  our  faith,  but  charitable  in  judgment,  and 
not  swift  to  deny  that  those  whose  walk  with  God  we  dare  not 
question,  yet  who  do  not  look  out  of  our  theological  eyes,  may 
have  as  much  of  heaven's  light  on  their  Bibles  as  falls  on  ours. 

But  I  must  pass  to  speak  of  another  principle  set  in  this  first 
chapter  of  our  Form  of  Government  by  the  Presbyterian  fathers. 
They  are  unanimously  of  opinion — 

Sixth.  "That  though  the  character,  qualifications  and  authority 
of  church  officers  are  laid  down  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  yet  the 
election  of  the  persons  to  the  exercise  of  this  authority,  in  any 
particular  society,  is  in  that  society.'''' 

They  thus  declare  for  the  right  of  suffrage,  assert  the  autonomy 
of  each  individual  church,  and  make  the  government  of  the 
church  representative.  And  thus  a  cardinal  feature  of  Presby- 
terian church  government  gets  its  complete  expression — viz.,  a 
government  under  a  written  constitution  and  administered  by 
elders  as  representatives  of  the  people.  It  is  neither  autocracy  nor 
democracy.  It  has  neither  hierarchy  nor  oligarchy.  Its  elders 
are  taken  from  among  the  people,  are  chosen  by  the  people,  and 
they  rule  in  the  interest  of  the  people.  It  is  therefore,  in  the 
highest  and  best  sense,  a  government  "of  the  people,  by  the  peo- 
ple and  for  the  people." 

Presbyterians  believe  that  all  power  in  the  church  is  vested  in 
the  people.  They  hold  that  the  people  have  a  right  to  a  substan- 
tive part  in  the  determination  of  all  questions  of  doctrine,  dis- 
cipline, order  and  worship.  Christ,  the  King  and  Head  of  his 
Church,  has  vested  power  of  government  in  his  Church.  Who 
are  his  church?  Bishops,  Prelates,  Elders?  No.  The  univer- 
sal priesthood  of  believers — the  whole  body  of  believers  in  Christ 
Jesus.  These  are  the  Church.  Hence,  power  is  vested  in  them. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  source  of  all  power.  And  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  given,  not  to  the  apostles  alone,  not  to  their  so-called 
successors  alone,  nor  to  any  church  officers  alone,  but  to  the  en- 
tire Church.  The  Presbyterian  Church,  therefore,  stands  for 
(•lection  of  officers  by  the  people,  and  her  suffrage  is  as  wide  as 
her  communion.     Whoever  has  a  right  to  the  Lord's  table,  man, 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  71 

woman  or  child,  has  a  voice  in  the  government  of  the  church. 
Woman  suffrage  and  minor  suffrage,  as  well  as  manhood  suffrage, 
are  her  usage  and  her  law.  Hence  there  is  no  government  on 
earth,  of  Church  or  State,  more  fully  and  completely  representa- 
tive. 

Church  power  relates  to  three  things :  First,  to  matters  of  doc- 
trine. The  Church  must  interpret  God's  law  and  frame  her 
creed  as  based  on  that  law.  Second,  to  matters  of  government. 
She  must  determine,  in  the  light  of  God's  Word,  her  own  form 
of  government.  Third,  to  matters  of  worship.  She  must  de- 
termine, subject  to  the  written  Word,  the  rules  for  the  ordering 
of  worship.  Now,  if  church  power  covers  this  wide  field,  and 
all  power  vests  in  the  people,  then  back  to  the  people  at  last 
must  come  every  question  of  doctrine  and  government  and  wor- 
ship. So  the  Presbyterian  Church  believes.  Every  member  of 
her  communion  votes.  These  votes  elect  the  elders;  these  elders 
rule.  We  freely  move  in  the  grooves  of  law,  for  we  make  the 
grooves.  If  we  do  not  like  them,  we  need  not  break  them  ;  we 
can  change  them.  Process  is  provided  for  every  desired  change 
in  doctrine,  discipline  or  order.  The  process  is  slow  and  long 
and  guarded,  as  it  ought  to  be.  Changes  in  any  constitution, 
but  especially  in  the  constitution  of  the  Church  of  God,  should 
not  be  made  in  a  spasm.  But  they  can  be  had,  and  by  the 
people,  if  the  people  will. 

I  pass  now  to  the  seventh  and  last  of  the  underlying  prin- 
ciples framed  by  the  fathers  and  set  in  this  marvellous  first 
chapter  of  our  Form  of  Government. 

They  are  unanimously  of  opinion — 

Seventh.  "That  all  church  power,  whether  exercised  by  the 
body  in  general  or  .  .  .  by  delegated  authority,  is  only  minis- 
terial and  declarative;  that  is  to  say  that  the  Holy  Scriptures 
are  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  manners ;  that  no  church  judica- 
tory ought  to  pretend  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  conscience,  in 
virtue  of  their  own  authority ;  and  that  all  their  decisions  should 
be  founded  upon  the  revealed  will  of  God." 


72  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

Thus  we  are  reminded  that,  in  the  last  resolve,  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  the  inspired  and  infallible 
Word  of  God.  The  final  question  with  every  Presbyterian  con- 
science is,  What  saith  the  Scriptures?  "Synods  and  Councils 
may  err,"  frankly  say  these  men  of  God.  Human  standards, 
even  as  interpretations  of  Holy  Scriptures,  are  fallible.  The 
Presbyterian  Church  does  not  claim  that  she  has  any  authori- 
tative court  of  Christ,  of  which  it  can  be  said  "  When  it  speaks, 
God  speaks."  We  call  the  standards  of  doctrine  and  govern- 
ment and  worship  the  Constitution  of  our  Church.  And  so 
they  are,  but  only  in  a  modified  sense.  They  are  the  subordi- 
nate standards.  The  court  of  final  appeal  is  the  Word  of  God. 
"  The  whole  counsel  of  God  concerning  all  things  necessary  for 
his  own  glory  and  man's  salvation,  faith  and  life  is  either  ex- 
pressly set  down  in  Scripture  or  by  good  and  necessary  conse- 
quence may  be  deduced  from  Scripture ;  unto  which  nothing  at 
any  time  is  to  be  added,  whether  by  new  revelations  of  the 
Spirit  or  tradition  of  men." 

We  reach  now  the  last  section  of  this  matchless  chapter.  It 
is  the  beautiful,  magnificent  and  irresistible  corollary  from  the 
seven  preceding  scriptural  and  rational  principles. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  are 
unanimously  of  the  opinion — 

Eighth.  "  That  if  the  preceding  scriptural  and  rational  prin- 
ciples be  steadfastly  adhered  to,  the  vigor  and  strictness  of  its 
discipline  will  contribute  to  the  glory  and  happiness  of  any 
church," 


And  here  follows  the  closing  sentence,  that  should  be  written 
in  letters  of  golden  light  over  the  door  of  every  judicatory  of  our 
beloved  Zion : 

"  Since  ecclesiastical  discipline  must  be  purely  moral  or  spir- 
itual in  its  object,  and  not  attended  with  any  civil  effects,  it  can 
derive  no  force  whatever  but  from  its  own  justice,  the  approbation 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  73 

of  an  impartial  public,  and  the  countenance  and  blessing  of  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church  universal." 

Bare  majorities  would  never  have  passed  extreme  measures  in 
our  Church,  the  knife  of  discipline  would  never  have  cut  clean 
through  the  whole  quivering  body  of  our  Church,  and  the  bit- 
terness of  strife  would  often  have  been  drowned  in  a  deluge  of 
patience  and  good  will,  if  the  spirit  breathed  in  these  words  had 
always  dominated  in  our  Presbyteries  and  Synods  and  General 
Assemblies. 

And  this  does  not  mean  a  boneless,  pulpy,  flabby  theology. 
Much  less  does  it  mean  a  peace  purchased  at  the  price  of  any 
truth  of  God.  It  means  a  spirit  that  can  keep  the  balance 
amidst  the  profoundest  agitation  of  great  debate ;  that  will  at 
any  cost  hear  the  other  side,  and  all  of  it;  that  will  believe  the 
positive  statements  and  frank  disclaimers  of  a  brother  in  Christ 
rather  than  even  its  own  fallible  inferences ;  that  has  learned 
something  from  the  old  battles  with  which  the  bride  of  Christ 
has  been  torn  and  rent,  the  issues  of  those  fierce  strifes  often 
having  proved  that  they  were  mainly  wars  of  words.  Would 
to  God  that  across  our  seven-jeweled  crown  of  church  govern- 
ment— placed  here  by  the  fathers  over  the  very  threshold  of  our 
palace  of  law — would  that  across  this  seven-jeweled  crown  of 
government  might  be  set  in  immortal  brilliants,  to  be  known 
and  read  of  all  the  Presbyterian  host,  this  ever-memorable  truth  : 
"  Ecclesiastical  discipline  can  derive  no  force  tvhatever  but  from 
its  own  justice,  the  approbation  of  an  impartial  public,  and  the 
countenance  and  blessing  of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  uni- 
verscd.,, 

I  have  thus  passed  in  review  the  seven  great  principles  that 
enter  vitally  into  the  structure  of  Presbyterian  polity.  I  have 
called  them  the  seven  jewels  in  our  crown  of  government.  They 
might  well  be  named  our  seven  great  bulwarks — bulwarks  alike 
of  liberty  and  of  law. 

With  these  we  face  the  foe,  and  in  the  name  of  the  omnipo- 
tent Jehovah  fling  down  our  challenge  to  the  world,  the  flesh 


74  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

and  the  devil.  We  blaze  their  names  upon  our  battle-scarred 
banner  and  joyfully  bear  them  aloft  before  our  bannered  host : 
Christ's  lordship  of  conscience ;  wide-open  communion  ;  heaven- 
ordained  officers ;  inseparableness  of  truth  and  duty ;  guardian- 
ship of  truth  ;  universal  suffrage;  and  Holy  Scriptures  the  last 
appeal.    These  are  indeed  bulwarks  of  liberty  and  bulwarks  of  law. 

How  they  stand  for  liberty  :  They  declare  for  the  inalienable 
rights  of  private  judgment,  and  enthrone  the  conscience  as  free 
from  the  doctrine  and  commandments  of  men  and  to  be  bound 
by  no  man-made  laws  that  are  not  also  the  laws  of  God.  They 
swing  wide  open  the  door  of  church  communion,  and,  like 
heaven's  door,  whosoever  believeth  may  go  in  thereat.  They 
unchurch  no  Christian.  They  shut  no  one  out  of  God's  ban- 
queting house  who  loves  Jesus  Christ.  They  put  a  ballot  in 
every  hand  that  takes  the  bread  and  wine  of  communion,  and 
the  ballot  may  be  cast  by  man,  woman  or  child  in  the  fear  of 
God  for  the  government  of  the  Church. 

But  this  large  liberty  is  no  license.  See  how  these  bulwarks 
stand  for  law.  They  declare  for  officers  of  rule  and  instruction 
authorized  by  Christ,  the  King,  "  for  the  preservation  in  both 
of  truth  and  duty,"  to  preach  his  word,  administer  his  sacra- 
ments, and  shield  his  flock. 

They  brand  as  pernicious  and  absurd  the  opinion  that  de- 
grades truth  to  a  level  with  falsehood  by  making  it  of  no  conse- 
quence what  a  man's  opinions  are. 

And  giving  truth  its  regnant,  transcendent  place  in  God's 
kingdom,  they  safeguard  truth  by  providing  that  all  teachers  of 
truth  shall  be  sound  in  the  faith. 

And,  above  all,  they  enthrone  Christ  not  only  as  the  Lord  of 
the  conscience,  but  King  of  his  Church  and  Lord  of  all ;  upon 
whose  shoulder  government  is ;  whose  name  is  the  mighty  God, 
the  Everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  of  the  increase  of 
whose  government  and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end ;  King  of 
Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords,  who  is  far  above  all  principality  and 
power  and  might  and  dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named, 
not  only   in   this  world,   but   also    in   that  which   is  to  come; 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  75 


Prophet,  Priest  and  King,  Saviour  and  Head  of  his  Church, 
containing  in  himself  by  way  of  eminency  all  the  offices  of 
his  Church.  How  could  there  be  lawless  license  under  such 
acknowledged  Kingship,  with  the  Word  of  God  as  infallible  rule 
and  officers  of  Christ  bound  by  ordination  vows  to  keep  and 
guard  the  published  faith  as  containing  the  system  of  doctrine 
taught  in  Holy  Scripture? 

Law  and  liberty,  therefore,  hold  their  balanced  and  co-ordinate 
place  in  the  government  of  our  Church.  We  have  "  superiority 
without  tyranny,"  "  parity  without  confusion,"  "  subjection  with- 
out slavery."  We  voice  the  unity  of  the  Church  in  our  graded 
assemblies  of  elders,  but  neither  in  Session  nor  Presbytery,  nor 
Synod  nor  General  Assembly,  does  any  officer  come  to  pre- 
eminence of  power  or  jurisdiction. 

Such  a  Church  must  needs  have  stood  for  civil,  as  well  as 
religious,  liberty.  Who  that  reads  can  doubt  it?  History  is 
ablaze  with  the  record  of  Presbyterian  fidelities  in  the  battles 
against  oppression.  Look  at  the  little  republic  of  Geneva,  a 
town  that  shot  more  light  of  civil  liberty  into  surrounding  dark- 
ness than  all  other  municipalities  of  the  world  combined.  Call 
the  roll  of  Huguenots,  Covenanters,  Puritans,  Pilgrims.  Where 
stood  our  Presbyterian  fathers  who  founded  and  adopted  the 
principles  we  have  been  discussing  here  to-day?  Almost  to  a 
man  they  were  for  independence.  Witherspoon  would  rather  go 
to  the  grave  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner  than  desert  at  that 
hour  the  sacred  cause  of  his  country.  The  Scotch-Irish  Presby- 
terians of  Mecklenburg,  in  convention  assembled,  on  May  20, 
1775,  a  full  year  before  Jefferson  voiced  the  unborn  nation's 
throes  and  throbs  of  liberty,  "  Resolved,  That  we  hereby  absolve 
ourselves  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and  declare 
ourselves  a  free  and  independent  people,  .  .  a  sovereign  and 
self-governing  association,  under  the  control  of  no  power  other 
than  that  of  our  God  and  the  general-  government  of  Congress, 
to  the  maintenance  of  which  we  solemnly  pledge  to  each  other 
our  mutual  co-operation  and  our  lives,  our  fortunes  and  our 
most  sacred  honor." 


76  Bi-certfeuniat  Celebration  of  the 

And  the  Synod  of  1783  in  their  pastoral  letter  to  the  churches 
say,  "  We  cannot  help  congratulating  you  on  the  general  and 
almost   universal   attachment  of  the   Presbyterian   body  to  the 

cause  of  liberty  and  the  rights  of  mankind Our 

burnt  and  wasted  churches,  and  our  plundered  dwellings,  in 
such  places  as  fell  under  the  power  of  our  adversaries,  are  but 
an  earnest  of  what  we  must  have  suffered  had  they  finally  pre- 
vailed." 

So  it  has  ever  been.  Her  kingship  of  Christ  and  liberty  of 
conscience  and  election  by  the  people,  commit  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  civil  liberty  as  naturally  and  inevitably  as  the  sun 
commits  the  day  to  light  and  cheer. 

So,  too,  is  she  forepledged  to  education  by  the  very  logic  of 
her  systems  both  of  government  and  doctrine.  By  the  law  of 
Christ  her  King,  power  rests  in  the  people.  Popular  election 
cf  church  officers  necessitates  intelligence.  A  blind  ballot  is  a 
deadly  weapon.  A  sufficient  number  of  them  means  possible 
revolution  any  hour  in  Church  or  State.  Hence  Presbyterians 
have  always  been,  by  preference  and  conviction,  patrons  of  the 
school.  Students  flocked  to  Geneva  and  Calvin.  Bancroft  says, 
"  Calvin  was  the  father  of  popular  education  and  the  inventor 
of  the  system  of  free  schools." 

Here  I  submit  the  case.  I  have  thought  it  well  on  this  two 
hundredth  anniversary  of  this  beloved  old  church  that  we  mark 
well  the  bulwarks  of  our  Presbyterian  Zion.  They  are  the 
principles  imbedded  in  this  first  chapter  of  our  Form  of  Govern- 
ment. They  have  stood  us  in  good  stead.  They  have  made  us 
reverers  of  law  and  lovers  of  liberty.  They  enthrone  Christ 
over  conscience,  and  allow  no  other  king.  They  throw  our 
gates  as  wide  open  as  heaven's.  They  establish  a  scripturally 
authorized  office  of  rule.  They  exalt  truth,  and  bind  it  insep- 
arably to  life.  They  guard  truth  by  testing  and  proving  the 
teachers  of  it.  They  put  a  sovereignty  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church,  believing  it  vests  there  by  Christ.  And  they  bind  no 
conscience  with  a  man-made  law.  If  under  these  principles  we 
have  ever   been  intolerant,  or  hedged  God's  free   communion 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  77 

about  with  extended  and  rigid  creed,  or  betrayed  truth  by  laxity 
in  ordination,  or  usurped  powers  vested  of  Christ  in  the  people, 
or  substituted  our  fallible  Confession  for  God's  infallible  Word, 
or  disciplined  where  the  discipline  got  no  force,  either  from  its 
own  justice  or  from  the  approbation  of  an  impartial  public,  or 
from  the  countenance  and  blessing  of  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church,  it  is  because  we  have  been  false  to  our  far-flung  battle 
cry. 

"  If,  drunk  with  power,  we  loose 

Wild  tongues  that  have  not  Thee  in  awe — 
Such  boasting  as  the  Gentiles  use, 

Or  lesser  breeds  without  the  Law — 
Lord  God  of  hosts,  be  with  us  yet. 
Lest  we  forget,  lest  we  forget." 

But  the  times  are  not  ripe  yet  simply  for  Gospel  lullabys.  We 
still  are  confronted  with  illusion  and  mendacity.  Men  are  still 
preaching  doctrines  of  devils.  Intolerance  no  longer  builds 
bonfires  to  burn  dissent;  but  it  lurks  still  in  high  places,  wear- 
ing sheep's  clothing. 

The  battle  is  not  over.  We  shall  long  be  in  need  of  intellects 
that  can  "pierce  to  the  roots  where  truth  and  lies  part  company." 
We  shall  still  have  abundant  service  for  men  of  the  Shadrach, 
Meshach  and  Abednego  sort ;  men  who  can  walk  into  the  fire, 
and  though  their  flesh  quiver,  their  hearts  will  not ;  men  who 
though  they  are  crushed  down  will  rise  again,  whom,  though 
they  may  be  splintered  and  torn,  no  power  on  earth  can  bend  or 
melt — stalwart,  strong  oaks.  And  the  centuries  show  that  there 
is  a  soil  and  an  atmosphere  congenial  to  this  fixed  conviction 
and  deathless  courage.  It  is  the  soil  of  Presbyterian  doctrine, 
and  the  air  of  freedom  that  sweeps  through  all  our  structure  of 
Presbyterian  government,  where  liberty  and  law  lock  hands,  and 
ever  walk  together  in  a  goodly  and  godly  fellowship. 

In  our  loyalty  to  these  historic  and  heaven-honored  symbols 
of  Presbyterian  doctrine  and  government,  let  us  praise  God  and 
shame  the  devil.     They  are  red  with  the  blood  of  martyrdom; 


Bi-centen n ial  Celebration . 


they  chronicle  multiplied  victories  of  conscience.     In  all  their 
essentials  they  are  truth  of  God. 

"  Shame  to  stand  in  God's  creation, 
And  doubt  truth's  sufficiency." 

Let  us  be  swift  to  recognize  the  honored  hosts  of  other  faiths 
who  make  Christ  King,  and  crown  him  Lord  of  all.  Let  us 
give  them  cheer  as  they  fight  and  pray,  and  let  us  thank  God  for 
their  victories ;  but  with  a  dear  and  deathless  regard,  let  us  stand 
by  the  beloved  old  Church  whose  name  we  wear,  and  whose 
doctrine  and  government  we  this  day  honor.  And  here  at  these 
altars  let  us  take  oath  again  that  we  will  give  to  her  through  all 
the  years  our  prayers  and  tears  and  toils. 

RESPONSE.— Sancttjs — "  Messe  Solennelle." — Gounod. 
(Tenor  and  Chorus.) 

PRAYER  BY  THE  PASTOR. 

O  Lord,  wilt  Thou  add  Thy  blessing  to  the  services  of  this 
day  in  this  house.  Build  us  up  in  our  most  holy  faith,  and  help 
us — oh,  help  us ! — to  show  our  faith  by  our  works,  and  unto  the 
Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  be  the  praise. 
Amen. 

HYMN  297. 

BENEDICTION. 

ORGAN    POSTLUDE.— "  Chorus— Messiah."— Handel. 


MONDAY  EVENING, 

NOVEMBER  14,   1898. 


THE  PASTOR 


Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  beseech  Thee  to  grant 
us  Thy  presence  and  Thy  blessing  in  this  hour  of  service.  May 
everything  be  according  to  Thy  will  and  to  Thy  glory.  We  ask 
it  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.     Amen. 

ANTHEM.— "Praise  Waiteth  for  Thee."— Sudds. 

PRAYER.— Kev.  Alfred  H.  Kellogg,  D.D. 

O  Holy  Father,  gathered  around  Thy  feet  to-night  in  this 
service  of  remembrance,  we  would  be  deeply  impressed  with  the 
tli<  tught  of  the  divine  constancy,  the  constancy  of  Thy  providence, 
the  constancy  of  Thy  care,  the  constancy  of  Thy  grace,  that  can 
make  such  a  record  as  this  church  presents  possible.  Thou  didst 
plant  this  church  as  a  beacon  light  of  liberty  and  of  law  in  this 
city  of  ours,  and  Thou  hast  upheld  it  throughout  all  these  decades 
of  years  by  Thine  almighty  arm,  hast  preserved  it  from  harm 
amid  every  peril.  Thou  hast  smiled  upon  the  undertaking  from 
the  very  start  until  now.  Thou  hast  greatly  prospered,  so  that 
from  being  a  little  vine  Thou  hast  made  it  a  plant  of  renown. 
And  especially  at  this  hour  we  would  recognize  the  constancy  of 
Thy  gifts  to  this  church  in  bestowing  upon  it  a  succession  of  godly 
men  and  true  men  as  leaders,  able  ministers  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, courageous  and  faithful.  We  recognize  the  unusual  gifts 
with  which  Thou  didst  endow  so  many  of  them,  influential  in  the 

79 


80  Bicentennial  Celebration  of  the 

university  and  in  civic  affairs,  as  well  as  in  the  church  and  in 
society.  It  is  Thou,  Thou  God,  Head  of  the  church,  that  hast 
given  to  it  pastors  and  teachers  as  well  as  helpers  and  governors. 
Thou  didst  call  men  and  equip  them  for  their  vocation,  and  bless 
their  messages,  and  make  them  servants  and  helpers  to  the  peo- 
ple and  the  world ;  and  as  we  look  back  over  what  God  hath 
wrought  here  for  two  hundred  years,  we  are  again  and  again  im- 
pressed with  the  constancy  of  God's  presence  and  help.  So  has  it 
been  always.  And  now,  rejoicing  over  the  rich  heritage  that  has 
come  to  us  out  of  the  past,  we  pray,  Holy  Father,  for  present 
grace,  for  Thy  presence  still  in  the  years  ahead.  Bl'ess  Thy  be- 
loved servant  who  stands  here  to-day.  May  he  feel  a  fresh  in- 
spiration coming  into  his  life  as  he  recalls  this  divine  constancy 
so  illustriously  exemplified  in  the  pastors  who  have  gone  before 
him ;  and  may  he  to-night  hear  the  word  of  comfort  whispered 
to  his  inmost  soul,  "Fear  not,  I  am  with  thee.  As  I  was  with 
thy  predecessors,  so  will  I  be  with  thee."  And  do  Thou  make 
Thv  servants  here  yet  more  diligent  in  cultivating  the  field  Thou 
hast  given  them  to  fill.  Bless  them  in  their  visits  to  the 
haunts  of  the  poor ;  and  as  they  venture  with  Thy  Gospel  into 
even  the  haunts  of  vice,  make  every  dark  spot  light  with  the 
light  of  Life,  and  may  this  whole  neighborhood  become  as  the 
very  garden  of  the  Lord.  Make  Thy  church  still  a  fruitful  vine. 
Thou  hast  called  one  and  another  from  the  homes  of  Thy  people 
here  to  serve  Thee  at  Thine  altar,  and  to  become  standard-bear- 
ers in  Zion.  God  bless  them  each  one  in  the  sphere  in  which 
they  are  now  working  for  Thee,  and  continue  in  this  way  to 
honor  Thy  church  here  by  making  it  not  only  a  busy  hive  for  all 
departments  of  Christian  work,  but  also  a  training  school  for  the 
church's  leaders  at  home  and  abroad ;  and  may  there  come  to  this 
church  during  this  week  of  rejoicing  a  refreshing  from  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord,  a  renewal  of  covenant  vows,  a  reviving  anew 
of  the  ties  of  Christian  fellowship,  a  spirit  of  consecration,  a  pro- 
founder  appreciation  of  the  church's  responsibilities  and  oppor- 
tunities. And  we  pray,  Holy  Father,  that  amid  the  joys  of  these 
auspicious  days,  some  who  have  been  long  hearers  of  the  word 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  81 

here,  but  have  as  yet  withheld  their  hearts  from  Thee,  may  be  led 
by  Thy  spirit  to  offer  themselves  to  the  Lord,  and  be  heard  say- 
ing, "  I  will  go  with  you.  Thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and 
thy  God  shall  be  my  God."  Oh,  hear  us,  God  of  the  fathers. 
Be  Thou  the  God  of  their  children  and  of  their  children's  children. 
May  none  of  these  be  lost,  and  at  the  next  communion  season 
may  there  be  a  great  ingathering,  and  among  them  many  who 
shall  from  this  week's  services  be  led  by  the  good  Spirit  of  grace 
to  make  the  great  decision  for  God  and  for  his  Church ;  and  unto 
God  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Spirit,  be  all  the  praise. 
Amen. 

HYMN. — "The  Church's  One  Foundation." 

HISTORICAL  SKETCH— The  Pastor. 

Although  neither  the  day  of  the  week  nor  the  date  of  the 
month  can  be  positively  given,  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia  was  organized  in  the 
autumn  of  the  year  1698,  and  in  all  probability  in  the  month  of 
November.  A  Presbyterian  congregation  had  been  slowly 
forming  for  several  vears  before.  The  visit  of  Francis  Makemie — 
a  name  that  American  Presbyterians  should  never  let  die — to  the 
city  in  1692  led  to  the  gathering  of  the  Protestant  Dissenters  of 
different  denominations  for  worship  at  the  Barbadoes  Store,  of 
which  we  shall  speak  later.  But  it  was  not  until  1698  that 
stated  Presbyterian  services  began.  This,  be  it  noted,  was  only 
fifteen  years  after  William  Penn  first  landed  in  America.  He 
obtained  his  charter  from  Charles  II.  in  1681,  and,  prior  to  his 
own  coming  two  years  later,  he  sent  his  surveyors  to  lay  out  the 
town,  the  plan  of  which  he  had  in  his  own  mind ;  and  the  gen- 
eral form  of  it  was  then  laid  from  river  to  river,  between  what 
are  now  Vine  and  South  Streets.  At  that  date  this  region  was, 
of  course,  a  comparative  wilderness.  There  were  a  few  scat- 
tered houses,  if  such  they  could  be  called,  on  the  bank  of  the 
river,  which  then  was  a  steep  bluff  about  twenty-five  feet  high. 
It  was  the  plan  of  the  benevolent  projector  of  this  city  to  have 
6 


82  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

this  bluff  preserved  as  a  promenade,  to  which  the  people  could 
resort  after  the  toil  of  the  day  and  enjoy  the  cooling  breezes,  to- 
gether with  the  view  of  the  stately  river  and  the  delectable  Jer- 
sey shore  beyond.  It  is  worth  remarking,  in  passing,  that  the 
earliest  settlers  dwelt  in  caves,  or,  as  they  are  called  now  in  the 
Far  West,  "  dugouts,"  holes  hollowed  out  of  this  high  river 
bank.  Think  of  this  when,  the  next  time,  in  approaching  the 
Market  Street  ferry,  you  find  yourself  going  down  a  very  re- 
spectable hill. 

As  nearly  as  I  can  make  it  out,  at  the  time  that  Christ  Epis- 
copal Church  was  organized — viz.,  in  1695 — there  were  residing 
here  a  little  company  of  English  Dissenters,  Welsh  Calvinists 
and  French  Huguenots,  who  had  sought  this  shore  for  "  con- 
science sake,"  and  especially  for  their  avowed  Puritanical  prin- 
ciples; and  not  being  able  to  feel  at  home,  as  was  naturally  the 
case,  in  the  Church  of  England — i.  e.,  in  Christ  Church,  which 
was  already  holding  worship — they  met  together  for  union  relig- 
ious services  in  a  little  store  which  belonged  to  the  trading  com- 
pany which  William  Penn  had  chartered,  called  "  The  Society 
of  the  Free  Traders "  or  the  "  Barbadoes  Company."  This 
company  traded  principally  with  the  West  Indies — with  those 
very  islands  which  now,  after  two  hundred  years,  have  passed 
into  our  possession.  Their  store  was  a  small  one-story-and-a- 
half  frame  building,  with  a  peaked  roof  (you  have  the  picture 
of  it  on  the  order  of  service),  and  stood  there — at  what  is  now 
the  northwest  corner  of  Second  and  Chestnut  Streets — as  late  as 
the  year  1832,  eleven  years  after  this  edifice  was  erected.  This 
little  company  of  worshippers  felt  the  need  of  a  minister  to  re- 
side among  them  and  to  organize  them  into  a  church,  and  ac- 
cordingly, casting  about,  they  secured  the  services  of  Mr.  Jede- 
diah  Andrews,  a  licentiate  not  yet  ordained,  who  in  the  autumn 
of  1698  came  from  Boston  and  began  his  labors  among  them. 
Mr.  Andrews  was  an  Independent,  or  Congregational ist,  but  his 
congregation,  largely  composed  of  emigrants  from  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  were  chiefly  Presbyterians,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  a 
case  of  "  like  people  like  priest,"  for  almost  immediately,  with 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  83 

the  cordial  assent  of  Mr.  Andrews,  the  Presbyterian  form  of 
government  was  adopted.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  kindly  Mr. 
Andrews  took  to  Presbyterianism  when  we  learn  that  he  was 
a  "  Congregational ist  according  to  the  Cambridge  platform." 
The  Cambridge  platform  admitted  the  office  of  ruling  elder  in 
the  church,  and  most  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  that 
day  had  them.  AVe  are  sorry  that  they  have  "fallen  from 
grace  "  in  this  respect. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  note  how  tactful  was  Mr.  Makemie. 
Verily  he  had  "  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  and  the  harmlessness 
of  the  dove."  He  induced  his  Presbvterian  neighboring  minis- 
ters  to  unite  in  forming  a  Presbytery  upon  lines  liberal  enough 
to  satisfy  Mr.  Andrews  and  his  Congregational  brethren.  At 
the  same  time  he  secured  the  name  and  all  the  essential  prin- 
ciples of  Presbyterianism.  In  this  fraternal  intercourse  these 
two  men,  Makemie  and  Andrews,  the  fathers  of  Presbyterianism 
in  America,  lived  and  wrought  until  Makemie's  death,  without 
the  least  jar  or  discord.  "  How  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to 
dwell  together  in  unity  !"  when,  by  so  doing,  they  sacrifice  no 
essential  principle. 

Mr.  John  Snowden,  by  occupation  a  tanner,  and  Mr.  William 
Gray  (baker)  were  the  first  ruling  ciders  of  the  church  associ- 
ated with  Mr.  Andrews  in  the  moulding  of  the  people  into 
Presbyterianism.  Under  the  ministry  of  these  men  the  church 
prospered,  and  the  congregation  so  much  increased  that,  in  the 
year  1704,  they  found  it  necessary  to  have  a  larger  place  of  wor- 
ship. Accordingly  they  secured  a  lot  on  the  corner  of  White 
Horse  Alley  (now  Bank  Street)  and  Market  Street,  and  on  it 
erected  a  new  church  edifice.  Of  this  edifice,  unfortunately,  we 
have  no  picture.  It  is  the  only  one  of  which  we  have  not. 
But  from  a  Swedish  traveller,  by  the  name  of  DeKalm,  who 
visited  this  country  in  1748,  we  learn  that  it  was  a  plain  build- 
ing, with  a  hexagonal  or  semi-circular  roof,  and  that  it  ran 
north  and  south,  "  because,"  as  he  said,  "  the  Presbyterians  are 
not  particular  as  to  the  points  of  the  compass  in  placing  their 
churches,"  implying,  of  course,  that  some  other  churches  arc. 


84  Bl-eentenniaJ  Celebration  of  the 


In  this  house  Mr.  Andrews  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor 
by  the  Presbytery  organized  through  his  efforts  and  those  of  his 
friend  Mr.  Makemie. 

In  the  year  1701,  which  was  also  the  year  in  which  William 
Penn  granted  the  city  a  charter,  Mr.  Andrews  began  keeping 
the  records  of  this  church  in  a  book  which  is  now  in  the  custody 
of  Dr.  Perkins,  the  clerk  of  the  session.  In  this  book  we  have 
the  record  of  baptisms  dating  back  to  1701,  when  March,  not 
January,  was  reckoned  as  the  first  month  of  the  year ;  and  the 
record  of  marriages  also  is  in  this  most  interesting  and  valuable 
volume,  application  for  transcripts  from  it  being  still  received. 
An  entry  in  it,  made  by  Mr.  EdAvard  Shippen,  the  first  mayor 
of  Philadelphia,  is  interesting.  It  bears  date  of  March  13, 
1753,  and  is  as  follows  : 

"  As  I  think  it  necessary  that  this  book  of  records  should  be 
preserved,  I  desire  that  my  executors  or  administrators  will  take 
particular  care  of  it.  It  was  delivered  to  me  by  William  Gray 
(one  of  the  first  elders),  one  of  the  executors  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Jedediah  Andrews,  deceased.  Edward  Shippen." 

The  congregation  steadily  growing,  the  church  edifice  of  1704 
was  enlarged  in  1729  by  the  help  of  contributions  received  from 
Boston,  "and  it  would  not,"  says  Mr.  Andrews,  "have  been 
done  without  it."  This  house  was  called  "Old  Buttonwood," 
from  the  fact  that  some  large  buttonwood  trees  were  adjacent  to 
it.  (Of  this  edifice  also  you  find  a  picture  in  the  order  of 
services  in  your  hands.)  At  this  date  the  population  of  the 
city  numbered  but  about  twelve  thousand,  and  there  was  nothing 
whatever  worth  speaking  of  beyond  Fourth  Street. 

It  is  interesting,  especially  if  we  are  ever  tempted  to  say  that 
"  the  former  days  were  better  than  these,"  to  note  that  almost  di- 
rectly in  front  of  this  "  Old  Buttonwood  "  church  in  those  days, 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  slaves  were  sold  upon  the 
auction  block.  Here  are  two  very  curious  advertisements  taken 
from  an  old  paper  printed  by  "  B.  Franklin  "  (Benjamin  Frank- 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  85 

lin),  who  was  then  postmaster  and  a  frequent,  if  not  habitual, 
worshipper  at  the  First  Church,  under  date  of  1758  : 

"  To  be  sold  :  A  likely  negro  wench  about  thirty-five  years  of 
age ;  is  an  exceeding  good  cook,  washerwoman  and  ironer,  and  is 
very  capable  of  doing  all  sorts  of  housework.  Inquire  of  the 
printer." 

But  here  is  an  advertisement,  part  of  which  is  unfortunately 
torn,  that  is  still  more  curious.  It  was  the  custom  in  those  days 
not  only  to  sell  the  negroes  as  slaves  permanently,  but  many  of 
the  poor  emigrants  who  came  over  were  also  actually  sold,  or, 
perhaps  more  accurately,  "  leased,"  for  a  term  of  years.  There 
was  a  large  portion  of  the  German  population  that  were  sent  over 
here  owing  to  the  political  disturbances  in  Europe,  and  who 
regularly  sold  themselves,  and  were  known  as  "  redemptioners." 
This  certainly  is  a  very  peculiar  advertisement : 

"  To  be  sold  :  An  Irish  servant  girl  fit  for  " —  That  part  is 
torn  out,  but  this  still  remains  :  "  — being  a  good  washer,  and 
can  spin  very  well.     Inquire  at  the  New  Printing  Office." 

Mark  you  !  this  thing  was  "  not  done  in  a  corner,"  but  under 
the  very  shadow  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  those  days. 
It  was  almost  in  the  very  year  in  Avhich  this  church  was  organ- 
ized that  a  clergyman  at  New  Castle,  Del.,  in  a  letter  to  one  of 
the  members  of  the  church,  states  that  they  "have  lost  our 
schoolmaster,  but  that  he  can  be  replaced,  as  he  learns  that  a 
vessel  is  shortly  to  arrive,  when  he  will  go  to  the  dock  and  buy 
one."  And  it  is  also  stated  that  no  less  a  person  than  a  dis- 
tinguished signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  sold 
in  his  youth  as  a  slave,  and  after  the  expiration  of  his  time 
taught  school. 

In  course  of  time,  under  the  able  ministry  of  Francis  Alison, 
the  church  edifice  at  Bank  and  Market  Streets  also  began  to  be 
too  strait,  and,  being  also  out  of  repair,  it  was  deemed  best  to 


86  Ili-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

take  it  down  and  build  a  new  one  in  its  place;  as  the  old  record 
has  it,  "  The  congregation,  beino-  able  and  flourishing,  began  to 

©        ©  ©  ©7  © 

think  it  necessary  to  rebuild  our  church,  and  in  1793  sub- 
scriptions to  a  large  amount  were  raised,  and  the  (present)  ele- 
gant building  commenced.  Captain  Magnus  Miller,  an  'an- 
tient'  and  wealthy  member  of  the  congregation  (I  am  still 
quoting  from  the  record),  devoted  his  whole  time  in  superin- 
tending and  rebuilding,  and  whilst  the  pestilential  fever  was 
raging  throughout  the  city  did  this  worthy  man  continue  to 
superintend  the  rebuilding."  It  is  pleasant  to  note  that,  whilst 
the  church  was  rebuilding,  the  trustees  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  generously  allowed  the  congregation  to  worship  in 
their  hall. 

In  1796,  Dr.  Ewing  being  then  pastor,  the  congregation  began 
to  worship  in  the  new  church,  a  picture  of  which  you  will  also 
find  on  the  order  of  service.  The  original  subscription  lists  to 
this  new  building  have  been  preserved  and  are  in  the  possession 
of  the  session.  The  first  name  which  appears  upon  the  list  is 
that  of  Thomas  McKean,  who  was  chief  justice  and  governor  of 
this  province  and  state.  The  pews  were  to  be  allotted.  The 
person  who  subscribed  the  most  was  to  have  the  first  choice. 
The  one  who  subscribed  next,  the  second  choice.  If  there  were 
two  or  more  subscribing  the  same  sum,  they  were  to  draw  lots 
for  the  choice.  And  I  want  to  call  your  special  attention  to  this 
memorandum  :  "  Provided  always " — and  this  is  part  of  the 
terms  of  subscription — "  provided  always  that  the  society  reserve 
to  itself  the  right  of  allotting  a  pew  in  all  or  any  of  the  said 
classes  of  subscribers  for  the  accommodation  of  such  members 
as  may  be  aged,  infirm,  hard  of  hearing  or  respectable  for  their 
long  standing  and  usefulness  in  the  congregation,  without  ha  vino; 
any  reference  to  the  amount  of  their  subscriptions."  Surely 
that  has  the  true  Christian  ring,  and  has  rung  down,  thank 
God,  to  the  church  of  to-day  ! 

This  church  edifice,  a  truly  fine  one,  remained  until  1820. 
By  that  time,  while  the  town  had  had  no  extraordinary  growth, 
it  had  extended  considerably  toward  the  west,  and  there  was  a 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  87 


desire  on  the  part  of  many  that  the  church  should  "  go  in  the 
same  direction."  But  this  was  strenuously  opposed  by  others. 
The  controversy  over  it  is  racy  reading.  The  war  was  largely 
carried  on  through  pamphlets,  and  the  air  was  thick  with 
them.  It  was  insisted,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  building  was 
utterly  unsafe — that  the  gallery  was  likely  to  fall  down  upon  the 
heads  of  the  people  at  the  very  next  service ;  on  the  other  hand, 
it  was  claimed  by  those  who  had  employed  "experts"  to  make 
an  examination  that  the  building  was  never  in  a  better  condition, 
and  never  could  be.  It  would  stand  for  a  century  yet,  and  then 
require  only  very  slight  repairs — not  worth  mentioning.  Why, 
then,  commit  the  folly  of  moving  to  a  far-away  locality  (to  this 
present  one)?  Why  erect  a  church  in  a  duck  pond  in  the 
wilderness  ?  The  fact  was  that,  at  that  time,  the  site  proposed 
(on  which  we  now  are)  was  used  as  a  cattle  yard.  In  1701  the 
square  yonder,  or  what  is  now  the  square,  had  been  granted  by 
the  "proprietaries"  as  a  "Potter's  Field"  for  the  burial  of 
strangers,  and  it  was  not  until  1795,  after  the  Revolutionary 
War  had  closed,  that  burials  ceased.  Large  numbers  of  the 
soldiers  of  the  Revolution  who  died  from  wounds  or  sickness 
were  buried  not  many  yards  away  from  us.  And  to  the  west  the 
houses  were  few  and  far  between — a  great  stretch  of  barren  pas- 
ture land,  from  which  the  timber  had  been  cut  by  the  British 
during  the  war.  But  the  majority  were  for  moving,  and  so  it 
came  to  pass  that,  in  1821,  this  edifice  in  which  we  are  assembled 
to-night  was  built.  And  those  of  us  who  have  had  occasion  to 
wander  through  "  the  crypts,"  in  which  aforetime  the  Sabbath- 
school  met,  can  testify  that  its  foundations  are  strong  indeed. 
Grace  and  sense  have  been  given  to  its  custodians  to  preserve  it  to 
this  day  in  its  original  simplicity.  It  has  not  been  modernized 
and  so  spoiled ;  and,  notwithstanding  it  was  built  seventy-seven 
years  ago,  there  are  not  a  few  who  are  modestly  of  the  opinion 
that  for  the  simple  purposes  of  public  worship  it  is  not  surpassed 
by  any  church  in  the  city  to-day. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  necessity  for  a  better  housing  of  the 
Sabbath-school  than  the  crypts  beneath  was  felt,  and  accordingly 


Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 


in  1829  the  building,  now  "lost  to  sight,  but  to  memory  dear," 
was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Spruce  and  Seventh  Streets.  There 
for  forty-seven  years  the  Sabbath-school  met,  and  there  it  received 
the  choicest  blessings  of  divine  favor.  It  was  identified  with 
the  lives  of  some  of  the  noblest  men  and  women  whom  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Philadelphia  has  ever  known.  The  building 
in  which  they  toiled  for  God  has  passed  away,  but  what  they 
there  wrought  can  never  die  .  .  .  But  prized  as  the  building 
was  on  account  of  its  associations,  it  was  admittedly  not  well 
adapted  to  Sabbath-school  purposes ;  moreover,  there  was  a 
growing  feeling  that  in  order  that  this  church  might  continue  to 
stand  in  its  lot  and  do  its  work,  instead  of  "  following  the  fash- 
ion "  of  moving  to  a  new  locality,  it  must  have  certain  additional 
facilities  for  adapting  itself  to  its  changing  environment.  That 
conviction  was  at  length  embodied  in  the  beautiful  "  Albert 
Barnes  Memorial,"  which  in  the  year  1896,  at  the  cost  of  about 
$75,000,  displaced  the  old  structure.  It  is  a  noble  memorial  of  a 
noble  man,  just  such  a  memorial  in  its  structure  and  its  purposes 
as  we  believe  would  be  according  to  his  own  broad  mind  and 
generous,  loving  heart.  For  this  memorial  building,  as  for  the 
endowment  fund  of  the  church,  which  in  this  bi-centennial  year 
has  so  nearly  reached  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
that  that  amount  is  now  assured,  we  are  largely  indebted  under 
God  to  our  elder  and  Sabbath-school  superintendent  Mr.  George 
Griffiths,  without  whose  faith  and  works  it  is  doubtful  whether 
they  would  have  ever  been.  As  Mr.  Andrews  said  about  the 
Boston  contributions,  "  it  could  not  have  been  done  without 
him." 

As  you  have  noticed,  I  have  made  thus  far  almost  no  reference 
to  the  pastors  of  the  church,  for  the  very  good  and  sufficient  rea- 
son that  my  friend  and  brother,  Dr.  Purves  (a  First  Church  boy, 
we  are  proud  to  say),  is  to  follow  this  sketch  with  an  address  de- 
voted exclusively  to  them.  According  to  my  promise  to  him, 
but  at  the  cost  of  extraordinary  self-restraint,  I  have  left  them 
severely  alone,  knowing  that  at  his  hands  they  will  receive  ample 
justice.     I  should  dearly  love  to  have  a  similar  paper  devoted  to 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  89 


the  eldership  of  the  church,  and  I  hereby  charge  Dr.  Perkins,  in 
compiling  the  full  history,  to  give  the  eldership  their  due ;  for 
whatever  this  church  is  or  has  been,  in  all  these  two  hundred 
years  of  its  life,  it  largely  owes  to  the  able  and  devoted  men  who 
from  time  to  time  have  composed  its  session.  Among  them  are 
not  a  few  names  conspicuous  and  renowned,  not  only  in  the 
Church,  but  in  the  State  as  well.  I  cannot  forbear  speaking  of 
two  or  three.  There  was  Dr.  Hugh  Williamson,  a  man  of  great 
learning,  but  child-like  piety,  and  possessed  to  a  large  degree  of 
the  qualities  which  make  up  the  true  statesman.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  influential  members  of  the  convention  that  framed  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Then  there  was  Mr.  Charles 
Thompson,  who  was  the  first  Secretary  of  the  first  American 
Congress.  He  was  brimful  of  patriotism,  one  of  the  master 
spirits  in  American  independence.  When  Franklin  wrote  to  him 
in  July,  1765,  "'We  might  as  well  have  hindered  the  sun's  set- 
ting (as  to  have  had  the  Stamp  Act  repealed).  That  we  could  not 
do.  But,  since  it  is  down,  my  friend,  and  it  may  be  long  before 
it  rises  again,  let  us  make  as  good  a  night  of  it  as  we  can.  We 
can  still  light  candles."  Thompson  answered  as  follows:  "Be 
assured,  the  Americans  will  light  lamps  of  a  different  sort  from 
those  you  contemplate."  It  is  an  honor  to  any  church  to  have 
had  such  a  man  as  he  upon  its  rolls,  and  influential  in  its  coun- 
cils. While  a  boy  of  only  eleven  years,  in  1739,  he  came  with 
his  father  and  two  brothers  to  this  country  from  Ireland.  His 
father  died  on  the  voyage.  His  dying  prayer  was,  "  God  take 
them  up."  The  captain  of  the  ship  robbed  the  children  of  all 
their  property  and  turned  them  loose  down  the  Delaware  some- 
where. The  lad  found  his  way  to  Dr.  Alison,  afterward  pastor 
of  this  church.  Dr.  Alison  took  him  and  educated  him — as  he 
did  many  another  boy — in  the  academy  in  this  city  and  in  the  uni- 
versity into  which  that  academy  grew,  and  of  which  he  was  pro- 
vost. Dr.  Alison  instructed  at  least  four  Governors,  eight  Con- 
gressmen and  four  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
The  president  of  Yale  College  declared  him  "the  greatest  class- 
ical scholar  in  America,  especially  in  Greek."     Young  Thompson 


90  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

had  a  remarkable  aptitude  for  languages.  In  later  years  he  trans- 
lated the  Septuagint — an  original  translation — copies  of  which  are 
very  rare,  but  of  which  there  is  a  fine  one  in  our  own  church 
library.  According  to  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  it  was  a  popular  mode 
of  asseverating  the  truth  of  anything  to  say,  "  It  is  as  true  as  if 
Charles  Thompson's  name  were  to  it."  In  all  the  factional  dis- 
putes of  the  Revolutionary  Congress,  his  judgment  was  respected. 
When  a  Congressional  paper  appeared,  sanctioned  by  his  name, 
it  was  the  custom  to  forget  his  official  character  and  say,  "  There 
comes  the  truth."  It  is  pleasant  to  know  that  those  who 
served  this  church  in  those  early  days  had  such  an  unques- 
tioned reputation  for  veracity  and  honesty,  as  the  following 
indicates.  Upon  the  title-page  of  the  third  volume  of  Bax- 
ter's works  in  our  church  library  this  is  written  :  "  Presented 
by  the  Rev.  Jedediah  Andrews  to  his  friend,  Mr.  David 
Griffing."  (This  Mr.  Griffing  was  one  of  the  early  elders.) 
Then  Dr.  Wilson  writes  underneath,  "  This  cannot  be  true, 
because  the  Rev.  Jedediah  Andrews  never  would  have  given 
away  that  which  did  not  belong  to  him !"  And  in  this  con- 
nection I  cannot  help  mentioning  that  royal  man,  Mr.  Thomas 
Fassitt,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  church,  who  purchased  the  ex- 
ceedingly valuable  library  left  by  Dr.  Wilson,  and  presented  it 
to  the  church.  It  is  a  rare  collection,  indeed,  and  one  of  which 
Ave  may  be  justly  proud,  containing  as  it  does  books  dating  back 
to  the  very  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century — the  oldest  one,  a 
copy  of  Lactantius,  bearing  the  date  of  1515 — noble  specimens  of 
the  printer's  art.  This  deed  is  one  of  many  wrought  from  time 
to  time  throughout  the  history  of  this  church  by  its  trustees  in 
their  individual  or  corporate  capacity,  which  attest  their  loyalty 
and  devotion  to  it,  To  my  surprise  I  find  that  the  organization 
of  this  church  was  not  complete  until  the  recent  date  of  January 
13,  1875,  for  it  was  not  until  then  that  deacons  were  ordained. 
No  doubt  before  this  the  church  had  its  needy  poor,  and  no 
doubt  they  were  cared  for,  but  not  in  this  constitutional  and 
Presbyterian  way.  "God  hath  chosen  the  poor  of  the  world 
rich  in  faith,"  and  no  church  is  complete  without  them  and  those 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  91 

appointed  to  minister  to  them.  The  men  who  have  served  and 
are  serving  in  this  capacity  are  worthy  of  the  Christ-like  office 
they  hold.  As  to  the  goodly  membership  of  the  church,  the  men 
and  women  who  from  the  beginning  until  now  have  here  been 
confessors  of  Christ,  and  sought  to  promote  the  intei'ests  of  his 
kingdom,  only  a  passing  reference  can  be  made.  No  church 
ever  had  from  generation  to  generation  a  more  loyal  membership. 
The  history  of  the  church  throughout  has  shown  a  certain  most 
marked  "Esprit  da  corps"  which  has  unified  it  and  made  it 
strong.  While  devotion  to  and  support  of  the  men  who  have 
served  it  in  the  pastorate  has  been  most  pronounced,  there  has 
through  all  its  vicissitudes  been  a  loyalty  to  the  church,  a  stand- 
ing by  it,  a  holding  on  to  it,  which  has  been  most  beautiful.  Many 
there  have  been  (and  many  still  there  are)  who  have  said  from 
these  seats,  "Thy  servants  take  pleasure  in  the  stones  of  this  Zion 
and  favor  the  dust  thereof."  It  is  impossible  in  this  brief  paper 
to  recount  their  virtues,  to  enumerate  their  good  works,  or  to 
tabulate  their  benevolent  offerings.  The  record  of  these  things 
is  on  high.  "  They  labored  and  we  have  entered  into  their 
labors."  But  there  is  something  most  impressive  in  the  thought 
of  what  the  life  of  this  church  for  the  last  two  hundred  years 
stands  for ;  in  the  churches  which  have  sprung  from  it,  directly 
or  indirectly — is  it  not  the  mother  of  them  all? — in  the  men 
who,  as  ministers  and  missionaries,  as  statesmen  and  jurists,  or 
in  humbler,  but  it  may  be  not  less  useful,  ways  have  served  God 
and  their  generation ;  in  the  great  company  of  devoted  women, 
who  by  their  prayers  and  such  blessed  ministry  as  only  they  can 
render  have  exemplified  and  made  real  and  beautiful  the  gospel 
they  have  here  been  taught.  What  this  church  has  been  to  the 
community,  what  part  it  has  had  in  moulding  public  opinion  for 
good,  as  well  as  in  saving  individual  souls,  is  known  only  to 
Him  who  gathers  up  into  his  own  pierced  hands  all  the  scattered 
threads  of  human  lives. 

Throughout  its  entire  history  this  church  has  had  a  most  con- 
spicuous and  a  most  honorable  place  in  the  larger  life  of  the 
great    Presbyterian    Church    to  which  it  belongs.     In  the   old 


92  Bi-eentemiial  Celebration  of  the 

Button  wood  Church  the  First  Presbytery  was  organized  in  1705. 
Of  the  one  hundred  and  ten  General  Assemblies  of  the  church, 
thirty-eight  have  convened  under  the  roof  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Philadelphia — viz.,  the  assemblies  of  1790  (the 
third),  1796,  1797,  1800-1810  inclusive,  1812,  1813,  1815-1818 
inclusive,  1824-1832  inclusive.  These  assemblies  were  held  be- 
fore the  division  into  New  and  Old  School,  which,  happily,  has 
now  become  almost  altogether  a  mere  matter  of  history.  When 
that  division  took  place  this  church  went  with  the  New  School 
branch,  and  the  New  School  Assemblies  of  1839, 1840, 1843, 1846, 
1849,  1854,  1863  met  in  this  sanctuary.  And  here  in  more 
recent  times,  within  the  memory  of  a  considerable  number  pres- 
ent to-night,  were  held  two  memorable  assemblies — that  of  1870, 
when  the  church  was  again  one,  and  that  of  1888,  the  Centennial 
Assembly,  which  is  commemorated  by  the  brass  tablet  of  unique 
design  in  the  vestibule  of  the  church.  Such,  most  briefly  and 
fragmentarily,  as  must  needs  be  in  this  sketch,  is  the  history  of 
this  dear  and  venerable  church.  "  Its  past,  at  least,  God  be 
thanked !  is  secure."  Of  its  present  we  may  not  speak.  Nor  is 
it  necessary.  "  Here  it  is:  Behold  it  and  judge  for  yourselves  !" 
It  is  standing  in  its  lot,  true,  we  trust,  to  its  traditions,  with  a 
strong  sense  of  "  Noblesse  Oblige."  With  a  larger  membership 
to-day  than  it  has  ever  had  in  its  entire  history,  with  a  more 
adequate  material  equipment  than  it  has  ever  known,  with  an 
endowment  fund,  which  only  needs  to  be  doubled  in  order  to  en- 
able it  to  do  without  embarrassment  the  enlarging  work  marked 
out  for  it  by  God's  providence,  it  is  determined  by  the  divine 
blessing  to  keep  the  Presbyterian  Banner  waving  in  its  strength 
and  beauty  in  this  very  part  of  the  city  where  two  hundred  years 
ago  it  was  unfurled  to  the  breeze  in  the  love  of  God  and  man  ! 


ADDRESS.— "The  Pulpit  of  the  First  Church." 
Rev.  George  T.  Purves,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  Princeton,  N.  J. 

It  would  not  have  been  possible    for    this    church    to   have 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  93 

maintained  itself  in  influence  and  prominence  during  two  cen- 
turies, if  its  pulpit  had  not  been  filled  by  a  royal  succes- 
sion of  powerful  preachers  of  the  Word.  The  pulpit  is  the 
brain  of  a  Presbyterian  organization.  The  brain,  indeed, 
needs  to  be  fed  by  the  life  blood  which  circulates  throughout  the 
entire  body,  and  which  in  this  ease  constitutes  the  faith  and  piety 
of  the  congregation.  But  the  pulpit  is  the  organ  of  thought,  the 
nerve  centre,  in  a  Presbyterian  body,  the  instrument  and  the 
master  of  the  believing,  confessing,  consecrated  life  of  the  church. 
Other  churches  may  depend  for  their  existence  upon  church 
establishment,  state  establishment.  Others  may  depend  upon 
hierarchical  pretensions.  Others  may  seek  to  be  supported  by 
richness  of  liturgical  service.  But  the  American  Presbyterian 
Church  has  and  wants  none  of  these  supports.  If  it  continue  to 
flourish,  it  must  be  because  of  the  vitality  of  the  congregation ; 
and  this  will  be  represented  in  the  pulpit. 

This  celebration  therefore  would  be  incomplete  if  a  tribute 
were  not  paid  to  the  distinguished  men  who  have  constituted  the 
ministry  of  the  First  Church.  To  them,  more  than  to  any  others, 
does  this  church  owe  the  fact  that  it  has  been  built  and  adorned 
in  successive  generations.  They  have  here  preached  with  great 
fidelity  the  truth  of  the  living  God,  and  at  their  incentive  the 
influence  of  this  church  has  gone  forth  for  good  into  city,  land 
and  world.  It  is  true  that  in  every  generation  they  have  been 
supported  by  a  loyal  people,  and  oftentimes  by  persons  of  con- 
spicuous influence  and  large  worth  ;  but  the  ministry  of  the  First 
Church  of  Philadelphia  has  organized  and  commanded  and  has 
directed  the  life  of  the  church.  Its  history  is  their  history.  It 
is  best  known  by  the  records  which  they  have  made  and  left  be- 
hind. They  are  the  most  distinct  figures  as  we  look  back  from 
1898  to  1698, — some  of  them  clear  and  freshly  cut,  as  if  they  were 
but  made  yesterday,  others  of  them  dim  and  blurred  with  time, 
but  all  of  them,  whether  near  or  distant,  the  impressive  repre- 
sentations to  us  of  the  vigorous  vitality  of  this  long-lived  com- 
munity of  saints.  We  do  well  to  honor  the  Christian  ministry. 
The  history  of  a  pulpit  like  this  is  better  worth  reciting  than  the 


94  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

history  of  many  thrones.  It  is  worthy  of  critical  study  as  well 
as  of  reverent  praise.  I  do  not  come  here  to-night  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bestowing  upon  it  mere  laudation.  I  would  rather  de- 
rive from  it  lessons  for  the  present  and  inspiration  for  the  future. 
But  I  am  embarrassed,  of  course,  by  the  necessity  which  is 
upon  me  of  describing  the  ministry  of  two  centuries  on  a  very 
small  canvas.  Even  without  giving  the  biographies  of  the 
pastors  of  this  church — which  I  certainly  shall  not  attempt  to 
do — the  subject  would  be  beyond  my  compass  if  it  were  not  for 
two  natural  limitations  which  I  may  place  upon  the  subject.  In 
the  first  place,  I  shall  draw  a  line  between  the  living  and  the 
dead;  and  I  am  sure  that  the  still  living  pastors  of  this  church 
would  wish  me  to  do  so.  They  would  rather  unite  with  me  to- 
night in  paying  tribute  to  those  who  are  the  spiritual  fathers  of 
our  body.  In  the  second  place,  my  theme  is  reduced  in  size  by 
the  marvellous  length  of  the  pastorates  of  this  church.  There  are 
really  only  six  men  whose  name-  need  be  mentioned  between  the 
beginning  of  the  First  Church  and  the  year  1870.  There  were 
others  who  preached  here,  either  as  assistants  or  as  stated  sup- 
plies, but  they  did  not  contribute  anything  to  the  history  of  this 
pulpit.  There  was,  indeed,  one  memorable  exception  to  the 
statement  which  I  have  made.  In  the  early  part  of  this  century 
this  pulpit  was  occupied  for  five  years  by  a  young  man  whose 
ministry  was  too  brief  to  produce  any  great  impression  upon  the 
history  of  the  church,  but  whose  ministry  was  so  brilliant  that  it 
should  not  be  passed  unnoticed  by  me  to-night.  That  was  John 
Blair  Linn.  He  was  only  twenty-two  years  of  age  when  he  was 
called  to  be  associated  with  Dr.  Ewino;  in  this  church.  Two 
years  after  Dr.  Ewing  died,  leaving  him  full  pastor;  but  after 
three  years  more  Linn  also  passed  away  at  the  early  age  of 
twenty-seven.  He  was  a  poet,  as  well  as  a  scholar;  he  was  a 
man  of  letters,  as  well  as  a  preacher  of  the  faith.  He  had  begun 
to  study  law  in  the  office  of  the  celebrated  Alexander  Hamilton, 
but  his  mind  was  not  of  the  legal  type.  He  was  a  man  of 
imagination  and  feeling;  easily  depressed  and  easily  exalted; 
acknowledged  by  his  friends  to  be  a  genius,  and  evidently  en- 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  95 

dowed  with  the  orator's  magic  art.  Bat  his  life  soon  became 
a  pathetic  straggle  with  disease  and  its  attendant  melancholy. 
Had  he  lived  he  would  doubtless  have  filled  an  honorable 
career  in  the  history  of  this  church.  But  we  need  only  pause 
to-night  that  we  may  place  a  wreath  of  immortelles  upon  his 
early  grave.  With  that  exception,  the  pastorates  of  this  church 
have  been  singularly  long.  Here  is  the  roll  of  honor.  Jedediah 
Andrews,  pastor  for  forty-six  years,  or,  if  we  include  the  three 
years  when  he  was  preaching  in  the  Barbadoes  Store,  for  forty- 
nine  years.  Robert  Cross,  who  served  this  church  for  nineteen 
years.  Francis  Alison,  who  served  the  church  for  twenty-seven 
years.  John  Ewing,  who  was  pastor  for  forty-three  years. 
James  P.  Wilson,  who  was  pastor  for  twenty-four  years.  Albert 
Barnes,  pastor  and  pastor  emeritus  for  forty  years.  What  a 
record  it  is  of  glorious  and  efficient  service!  What  a  testimony 
at  once  to  the  loyalty  of  the  people  and  to  the  fidelity  of  the 
pulpit!  In  these  days  of  pulpit  instability  and  of  popular 
mutability,  our  modern  life  stands  aghast  at  the  staying  powers 
of  our  fathers,  and  we  wonder  whether  we,  with  our  swift 
changes,  will  be  able  to  make  the  impression  upon  our  day 
which  they  made  on  theirs.  But,  at  any  rate,  their  long  pas- 
torates reduces  my  subject  to-night.  There  are  really  only  six 
links  in  the  chain  which  binds  the  ministry  of  the  present  with 
that  of  the  beginning,  and  those  six  men  fall  naturally  into 
three  classes,  which  correspond  to  three  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  church:  the  period  of  establishment,  which  was  marked  by 
the  ministry  of  Andrews  and  Cross;  the  period  of  solidification, 
which  was  marked  by  the  ministries  of  Alison  and  Ewing ;  and 
then  what,  without  disparagement  to  others,  I  may  call  the 
period  of  renown,  which  was  marked  by  the  ministries  of 
Wilson  and  Barnes.  At  any  rate,  the  pulpit  of  this  church  in 
these  three  periods,  whether  I  have  given  them  right  titles  or 
not,  differs  distinctly  from  the  character  of  the  pulpit  in  the 
other  periods,  and  this  may  serve  to  guide  our  remarks  to-night. 
The  period  of  the  establishment  of  this  church  was  marked, 
then,  by  the  ministries  of  Jedediah  Andrews  and  Robert  Cross. 


96  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

It  was  the  period  in  which  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  form- 
ing in  America,  along  with  her  other  institutions,  and  the  First 
Church  of  Philadelphia  was  forming  with  them.  It  was  the 
period  of  Presbyterian  emigration.  The  tide  was  coming  mainly 
from  Scotland  and  from  the  north  of  Ireland,  but  also  from  the 
Palatinate  and  from  England,  while  within  the  colonies  them- 
selves there  was  constant  movement,  especially  from  New  Eng- 
land into  what  are  now  the  Middle  States.  Mr.  Andrews  him- 
self came  from  Massachusetts.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
and  he  represented  the  conservative  Congregationalism  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, his  native  town  of  Hingham  presenting  an  example 
of  a  church  which  was  almost  as  much  Presbyterian  as  it  was 
Congregational.  Robert  Cross,  on  the  other  hand,  came  from 
the  north  of  Ireland,  and  he  represented  the  staunch  Scotch- 
Irish  stock  which  has  contributed  so  much  to  the  making  of 
stalwart  Presbyterianism.  The  work  of  these  two  men  naturally 
lay  in  the  building  up  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  new 
country.  Especially  was  this  the  work  of  Mr.  Andrews.  As 
you  have  already  heard,  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  First 
Presbytery,  and  it  is  a  testimony  to  the  large-hearted  judgment 
of  the  man  that,  Congregationalist  though  he  had  been,  he  en- 
tered so  willingly  into  the  formation  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  the  Middle  States,  instead  of  insisting  upon  what  would  have 
been  an  isolated  example  of  Congregationalism.  He  it  was 
who  moulded  the  mixed  company  who  first  met  in  the  Barbadoes 
Store  in  this  direction  of  ecclesiastical  government.  He  became 
one  of  the  leading  members  of  the  First  Presbytery  and  of  the 
First  Synod,  when  the  latter  was  formed  in  1717.  We  know 
also  that  he  was  exceedingly  interested  in  watching  the  growing 
stream  of  immigration  into  this  colony,  that  he  made  frequent 
missionary  tours  into  Jersey  and  into  Pennsylvania,  and  a  letter 
which  has  been  preserved  from  Mr.  Andrews  indicates  the  eager- 
ness with  which  he  felt  the  necessity  of  moulding  these  new- 
comers into  a  united  ecclesiastical  system.  But  the  rapid  succes- 
sion of  Mr.  Andrews  and  Mr.  Cross  in  the  pastorate  of  this 
church  is  significant  of  a  still  larger  fact  in  our  American  Pres- 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  97 


byterianism,  one  that  is  important  for  the  historian  to  notice  and 
which  describes  to  us  the  character  of  this  pulpit.     As  I  have 
said,   Mr.   Andrews  was   from   Massachusetts.     Mr.   Cross  was 
from  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  therefore  they  represent  the  con- 
fluence of  two  streams  of  Presbyterian  immigration  and  of  two 
types  of  Presbyterian  life  and  thought,  which  united  to  form  this 
church,  as  they  united  to  form  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States.     For  I  am  glad  to  say  that  our  American  Pres- 
byterianism     is    not    a    transplantation    of    any    foreign    type. 
It    is    the    complex  of   several.     It    is  an    American    product. 
Its    seeds     came    from     the    Old     World,    but    it     made    an 
American     Presbyterian    Church,    with    American    ideals    and 
with  American  history,  and   the  combination  of  two  men  like 
Andrews  and  Cross  in  the  pastorate  of  this  church  in  the  period 
of  its  establishment  was  significant  of  the  new  church  which  was 
being  formed,  to  make  for  a  new  country  a  new  ecclesia  which 
should  better  lift  the  standard  of  a  common  Christ.     Therefore, 
Mr.  Cross  and  Mr.  Andrews  are  significant  to  us  to-night  of  the 
period  of  the  church's  establishment.     Both  were  strongly  con- 
servative men.     Both  were  intense  in  their  devotion  to  Presby- 
terian doctrines.     At  any  rate,  Mr.  Cross  was  the  leader  of  the 
old  side.     He  was  the  one  who  made  the  protest  against  what  he 
deemed  the  extravagance  of  the  revivalists  which  had  then  come 
before  the  Synod.     He  was  a  conservative  man.     Mr.  Andrews 
sided  with  him  in  his  conservatism,  and  this  church  followed  its 
pastors  into  the  old  side  in  the  controversy  of  nearly  250  years 
ago.     This  was  proved  by  the  very  criticisms  which  were  made 
upon  these  men.     Dr.  Benjamin    Franklin,  although    he  often 
worshipped  here,  did  not  care  to  listen  to  Mr.  Andrews,  he  said, 
because  he  was  so  polemic,  because  he  was  continually  proving 
the  doctrines  of  his  sect,  which  to  the  ethical  philosopher  were 
exceedingly  dry  and  uninteresting.     George  Whitfield  himself 
tells  us  that  "  Mr.  Cross  lashed  me  bravely  last  Sunday  morning, 
and  Mr.  Andrews  praached  against  me."     Let  it  be  said,  how- 
ever, that  at  a  later  time  Mr.  Cross  invited  Whitfield  to  preach 
in  the  pulpit  of  the  First  Church,  and  the  invitation  was  ac- 


7 


98  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

cepted ;  but  the  criticisms  show  the  type  of  the  pulpit  as  it  then 
existed.  It  seemed  to  these  men  more  important  to  insist  upon 
binding  what  was  peculiar  to  the  different  types  of  Presbyteria/i- 
ism  together,  in  order  that  they  might  establish  a  Presbyterian 
church  in  this  place.  No  doubt  they  sometimes  leaned  back- 
wards. No  doubt  they  did  not  appreciate  the  good  there  was  in 
the  great  awakening,  and  perhaps  they  did  not  appreciate  even 
the  good  there  was  in  Dr.  Franklin's  ethical  philosophy ;  but  be 
that  as  it  may,  they  were  so  tolerant  that  they  combined  the  dif- 
ferent types  of  Presbyterianism  into  one  body,  and  they  gave 
themselves,  as  wise  men  should  do,  to  the  supreme  work  of  build- 
ing up  on  these  shores  a  distinctively  American,  but  a  really 
Presbyterian  church,  which  should  here  carry  on  the  fundamental 
principles  for  which  the  fathers  had  bled  and  fought  and  suffered 
beyond  the  seas. 

The  period  of  the  solidification  or  perpetuation  of  this  church 
comes  next.  During  the  last  half  of  the  last  century  Ave  find 
this  church  steadily  growing  in  power  and  influence,  until  it  be- 
comes the  influential  body  which  we  find  it  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century,  and  this  continual  growth  and  solidification 
was  mainly  due  to  the  ministry  here  of  two  remarkable  men, 
Dr.  Francis  Alison  and  Dr.  John  Ewing.  Both  of  them  were 
scholars,  both  of  them  were  great  educators,  and  their  lives  were 
beautifully  intertwined.  Alison  had  come  from  Ireland  at  the 
earlv  age  of  thirty.  He  had  first  been  tutor  in  the  family  of  Gov- 
ernor Dickinson  of  Delaware.  Then  he  had  been  ordained,  and 
settled  in  the  town  of  New  London,  Pennsylvania  ;  but  he 
had  soon  become  a  teacher  as  well  as  a  preacher,  and  he  had  es- 
tablished in  New  London  an  academy  which  quickly  sprang  into 
fame,  both  because  of  the  learning  of  its  principal  and  because 
of  the  many  distinguished  men  who  in  time  came  to  graduate 
from  it.  After  awhile,  however,  he  retired  from  New  London  to 
Philadelphia,  took  charge  of  the  academy  in  this  place,  and  be- 
came the  assistant  to  Mr.  Cross.  When  the  academy  was  changed 
into  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Alison  became  its  vice 
provost  and  professor  of  moral  philosophy,  and  when  Dr.  John 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  99 


Ewing  succeeded  Robert  Cross  in  the  pastorate  of  this  church, 
Dr.  Alison  was  continued  as  his  colleague  also;  for  those  two. 
n^cn,  Alison  and  Ewing,  had  long  been  friends.  They  were  both 
of  the  Scotch-Irish  stock.  Ewing  had  been  Alison's  pupil  at 
school  at  New  London.  Then,  after  having  graduated  from  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  he  had  gone  back  to  his  old  preceptor  to 
study  theology,  and  then  had  followed  him  to  Philadelphia  and 
into  the  teaching  corps  of  the  academy  or  college  in  this  place. 
Ewing,  however,  was  evidently  the  finer  preacher  of  the  two,  for 
on  the  death  of  Mr.  Cross  he  Avas  unanimously  called  to  the  pas- 
torate of  this  church  in  1759.  When  he  became  the  pastor  of 
the  First  Church,  however,  he  did  not  cease  his  interest  in  educa- 
tion. This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  he  went  abroad  in  order 
that  he  might  gather  funds  for  the  Newark  Academy,  and  on  his 
return  in  1779,  when  the  College  of  Philadelphia  became  by  Act 
of  Legislature  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  Dr.  Ewing  was 
made  its  first  provost  and  professor  of  natural  philosophy,  and 
these  offices  he  continued  to  hold  in  connection  with  the  pastorate 
of  this  church.  So  for  half  a  century  the  First  Church  of 
Philadelphia  was  held  by  men  who  sat  in  professors'  chairs,  and 
by  means  of  their  large  culture  and  wide  intellectual  influence  this 
pulpit  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  best  minds  of  the  commun- 
ity about  them.  Alison  was  pre-eminently  a  scholar  and  man 
of  classical  attainments,  though  widely  read  in  history  and  in 
ethics  as  well.  He  received  degrees  from  Yale;  he  received  de- 
grees from  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  He  was,  it  is  believed, 
the  first  man  to  have  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
from  a  foreign  university.  What  he  was  as  a  preacher  we  do  not 
know.  We  know  that  as  a  theologian  he,  too,  was  conservative, 
and  that  he  joined  Mr.  Cross  in  the  protest  made  against  revivals 
in  the  Synod;  but  his  friend,  Dr.  Ewing,  describes  him  as  a  man 
frank,  ingenuous  and  nobly  catholic  in  his  spirit,  a  lover  of 
liberty  to  all  mankind — how  that  note  is  always  struck  in  the 
men  of  those  days  ! — and  a  man  who  hated  bigotry,  superstition 
and  oppression.  As  a  preacher,  it  is  said,  he  was  warm,  an- 
imated, argumentative  and  pathetic,  and,  says  Dr.  Ewing,  his 


100  Si-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

friend  and  his  companion,  "  There  are  thousands  in  this  city  to- 
day [Philadelphia]  who  can  bear  witness  to  the  earnestness  with 
which  he  was  willing  to  spend  and  to  be  spent  for  their  salvatiqp, 
and  to  declare  to  them  the  whole  salvation  of  God."  But  Dr. 
Ewing  was  evidently  himself  the  greater  man.  He  was  a  man 
of  urbane  culture  and  of  the  widest  type  of  intellectual  disci- 
pline, with  superb  health.  He  discharged  for  many  years  the 
work  of  pastor,  provost  and  professor.  When  he  went  abroad 
the  freedom  of  the  city  of  Glasgow  was  given  to  him.  He 
argued  the  cause  of  the  colonies  with  Lord  North  before  the 
Revolution.  He  mollified  and  he  made  courteous  even  the  iras- 
cible and  anti-American  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  by  the  beauty  of 
his  reply  and  the  evidence  of  his  learning,  and,  as  the  provost 
of  the  university  and  as  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  this 
city,  in  this  place  he  occupied  a  position  of  commanding  influ- 
ence. In  fact,  the  language  of  Dr.  Samuel  Miller,  of  Princeton, 
with  regard  to  Dr.  Ewing  seems  almost  too  extravagant  to  be 
true  or  for  me  to  repeat.  Dr.  Samuel  Miller  wrote,  "  There  is 
absolutely  no  one  in  America  who  has  so  wide  a  knowledge  of 
all  the  studies  which  are  studied  in  college  as  Dr.  Ewing. 
Logic  and  history,  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew7,  metaphysics  and 
philosophy — he  is  equally  at  home  in  them  all."  And  Dr.  Mil- 
ler adds  that  the  provost  of  the  university,  who  was  also  pastor 
of  this  church,  when  he  was  called  upon  at  an  hour's  notice  to 
fill  the  vacant  chair  caused  by  the  absence  of  a  professor  tem- 
porarily, was  able  to  step  in  and  fill  that  chair,  be  the  subject 
what  it  might,  with  as  much  success,  and  Dr.  Miller  says  with 
even  more  success,  than  the  incumbent  of  the  chair  could  him- 
self. Surely  under  the  influence  of  two  men  like  Alison  and 
Ewing  we  can  understand  the  growth  of  the  First  Church  of 
Philadelphia.  The  keynote  of  this  period  was  education.  Both 
men  were  recognized  as  intellectual  leaders  in  the  community  in 
which  they  stood,  and  if  in  the  period  of  establishment  Andrews 
and  Cross  used  the  pulpit  of  this  church  for  the  making  of  a 
definite  and  real  American  Presbyterianism  in  this  city,  Alison 
and  Ewing,  in  the  period  which  succeeded,  used  this  church  to 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  101 

link  Presbyterianism  in  that  bond  of  union  where  she  has  ever 
since  stood,  and  where  she  may  ever  stand — union  with  education, 
the  pulpit  and  the  chair,  one  and  inseparable,  as  it  is  illustrated 
in  the  intellectual  power  of  this  pulpit  by  the  vice  provost  and 
provost  of  the  university. 

Now  our  rapid  sketch  has  brought  us  to  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  and  we  approach  what  I  may,  without  disparagement 
of  that  which  has  gone  before,  describe  as  the  period  of  renown  ; 
for  Dr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Barnes  gave  to  this  pulpit  a  national 
and  even  international  reputation.     By  a  singular  coincidence, 
as  both  of  their  predecessors  were  educators,  so  both  of  these 
men  had  been  originally  designed  for  the  bar.     By  a  singular 
coincidence    also    both  of  them  had    been  in    early  life  prone 
to  skepticism,  and  only  by  a  process  of  distinct  rational  convic- 
tion had  thev  been  led  to  the  faith  ;   and  by  a  singular  coin- 
cidence  in  both  cases  the  conversion  of  the  man  had  been  the 
moment  of  his  dedication  to  the  Christian  ministry.     Dr.  James 
P.  Wilson  came  to  the  ministry  of  this  church  after  having  prac- 
ticed for  fourteen  years,  with  distinguished  success,  the  profession 
of  the    law  in    the   state  of   Delaware.     Graduating  from  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  with  the  highest  honors  in  1788,  he 
had  returned  to  his  native  state  and  there  entered  upon  his  pro- 
fession.    The  integrity  of  his  character  gave  weight  to  his  em- 
inent abilities  as  a  lawyer.     He  is  said  to  have  been  the  only 
man  at  the  Delaware  bar  of  that  day  whom  the  elder  Bayard 
feared  to  face.     In  fact,  he  became  Chancellor  of  the  state.     He 
was  in  the  midst  of  worldly  success,  which  promised  him  enor- 
mous reputation  and  vast  accumulations  of  wealth,  but  all  the 
while  the  evidences  of  Christianity  had  been  coming  home  with 
greater  and  greater  force  upon  his  mind,  and  a  series  of  sorrow- 
ful circumstances  in  his  own  family  had  turned  his  thoughts  to 
higher  things ;  and  so  suddenly,  in  the  midst  of  his  success,  the 
distinguished  lawyer  confessed  his  Saviour,  and  forthwith  ded- 
icated his  trained  mind  to  the  service  of  his  divine  Lord. 

When  therefore,  after  a  few  years  of  ministry  in  Delaware,  Dr. 
Wilson,  at  the  suggestion  of  his  old  friend,  Benjamin  Rush,  was 


102  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

invited  to  this  church,  he  brought  to  it  an  established  reputation 
and  most  distinguished  abilities.  By  some  means  Dr.  Wilson 
had  managed  to  make  himself  a  most  learned  theologian,  as  he 
had  been  a  learned  lawyer.  How  he  ever  managed  it  I  do  not 
know.  What  course  of  training  he  put  himself  through  I  do  not 
know.  But  the  fact  remains  that  he  no  sooner  appears  in  the 
pulpit  than  he  appears  as  a  man  of  profound  erudition,  and  that, 
too,  along  lines  where  we  would  not  have  expected  it.  He  is 
said  to  have  been  one  of  the  few  American  churchmen  of  that 
day  who  had  read  all  the  Greek  and  Latin  fathers  through,  and 
it  is  said  also  that  he  was  accustomed  to  commend  their  perusal 
to  his  congregation.  He  was  equally  familiar  with  the  great 
writers  of  the  reformed  theology.  I  have  in  my  possession  Dr. 
Wilson's  private  copy  of  the  Essay  on  the  Probation  of  Fallen 
Man,  and  it  has  been  of  great  interest  to  read  the  notes  in  his 
own  handwriting  which  he  has  appended  to  his  own  book,  and 
from  those  notes  it  appears  that  he  was  skilled  in  the  exposition  of 
Scripture  in  the  original  languages,  and  was  possessed  of  an  origi- 
nality of  mind  and  independence  of  thought  which  was  truly  re- 
markable. In  theology  Dr.  Wilson  was  a  Calvinist,  but  he  had 
reacted  against  the  hyper-Calvinism  of  certain  New  England 
schools,  and  he  objected  to  certain  current  phraseology  of  the 
Calvinistic  theology.  He  was  also  noted  for  his  sympathy  with 
all  other  branches  of  Christians.  In  the  days  in  which  he  lived 
he  would,  I  suppose,  have  been  called  a  liberal.  When  judged 
by  the  standards  by  which  Ave  judge,  he  was  conservative  enough, 
but  he  was  an  independent  thinker.  He  was  a  man  who  knew 
what  he  believed  and  why  he  believed  it.  He  was  a  scholar  and 
a  theologian  and  a  philosopher.  He  was  a  prince  among  the 
preachers  of  his  day,  and  he  was  ready  to  maintain  his  beliefs 
against  all  antagonists.  Dr.  Wilson  was  in  his  glory  in  the 
pulpit.  As  a  writer  he  was  never  popular,  but  as  a  preacher  he 
commanded  the  attention  of  his  audience.  Conversational  in 
style,  speaking  with  but  little  gesture,  for  many  years  of  his  life 
sitting  in  a  high  chair  in  this  pulpit,  he  talked  to  his  people  as  a 
father  would  to  his  family,  while  at  the  same  time  he  summed 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  103 

up  his  conclusions  with  the  authority  of  a  judge,  and  certainly, 
my  brethren,  it  was  learned  preaching.  Dr.  Wilson  would  delve 
into  a  text  of  Scripture ;  he  would  draw  the  finest  distinctions  of 
grammar ;  he  would  cite  authority  against  authority,  and  then  he 
would  draw  his  own  independent  conclusions.  Or  he  would  lead 
his  audience  to  the  finer  points  of  dogmatic  theology.  He  would 
draw  the  finest  distinctions  between  contending  views,  and  then 
he  would  in  order  set  before  them  the  reasons  which  led  to  his 
own  conclusion.  He  would  cite  his  divine  statute  book  like  a 
lawyer,  he  would  argue  with  the  precision  of  a  logician,  and  he 
would  sum  it  up  like  a  judge.  It  was  the  movement  of  a  giant 
mind,  and  yet  it  was  all  done  with  such  clearness  of  statement 
and  such  simplicity  of  manner  that  his  intelligent  hearers  were 
able  and  were  glad  to  follow  him.  Mr.  Barnes  relates  that  on 
the  only  occasion  on  which  he  ever  heard  Dr.  Wilson  preach  he 
said,  "  I  never  was  so  absorbed  in  the  subject  which  a  public 
speaker  was  discoursing  upon  as  I  was  upon  that  occasion,  and 
what  seemed  true  of  me  seemed  to  be  true  of  the  entire  audience 
as  well."  Verily,  there  were  giants  in  those  days.  There  must 
have  been  giants  in  the  pews,  as  there  was  a  giant  in  the  pulpit. 
The  discourse  was  one  which  compelled  thought.  Men  were 
used  to  thinking  about  theology  in  those  days.  They  believed 
theology  was  a  thing  to  think  about,  and  not  a  mere  thing  to  feel 
about.  Therefore  they  were  willing  to  think,  and  Dr.  Wilson 
made  them  think  ;  and  there  was  nothing  that  Dr.  Wilson  had  to 
say  that  was  of  use  to  them  unless  they  thought.  It  is  true  that 
Dr.  Wilson  did  not  always  discuss  problems  of  theology.  He 
had  his  message  for  the  common  duties  of  common  life  as  well, 
but  in  the  pulpit  he  was  distinctively  a  man  of  intellect,  and  this 
church  never  exerted  a  stronger  influence  than  when  that  Nestor 
was  at  her  head. 

This  brings  me,  last  of  all,  to  the  man  whose  name  is  associated 
in  the  minds  of  most  of  us  with  this  pulpit,  the  man  whose  new 
memorial  adorns  this  church,  as  it  ought,  and  of  whom  I  may 
speak  to-night  as  a  son  of  his  spiritual  father.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary for  me  to  describe  the  external  relations  of  Albert  Barnes 


104  Bi-een(ennial  Celebration  of  the 

to  this  people  and  to  this  church,  even  to  the  extent  to  which  I 
have  described  those  of  his  predecessor.  Enough  to  say  that  he 
graduated  from  Hamilton  College  and  from  Princeton  Seminary. 
After  a  five  years  ministry  at  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  he  was 
Galled  in  1830  to  the  pastorate  of  this  church.  The  first  years 
of  his  ministry  were  years  of  sharp  controversy,  with  which  his 
own  name  was  intimately  connected  and  his  own  person  the 
object  of  attack,  and  through  which  he  passed  not  only  with  firm 
confidence  in  his  own  convictions,  but  with  a  gentleness  and  mild- 
ness of  spirit  which  was  truly  beautiful.  That  controversy  has 
long  since  died  and  been  buried,  and  even  to  allude  to  it  seems 
like  taking  up  ancient  history.  Nevertheless  we  should  not  fail 
to  remember  that  to  it  Mr.  Barnes  was  indebted  in  very  large 
measure  for  the  notoriety  with  which  he  first  blazed  upon  the 
church  of  America.  Not  that  he  was  a  controversial  preacher 
at  any  time.  He  was  as  gentle  as  he  was  firm.  He  was  as 
large-hearted  as  he  was  positive,  and  in  those  days  of  fierce  storm, 
when  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  broken  into  two  halves,  Albert 
Barnes  never  used  the,  pulpit  to  pillory  his  opponents.  Neither 
need  I  dwell,  nor  can  I  dwell  to-night,  upon  his  wondrous  liter- 
ary activity.  He  was,  as  you  know,  a  great  maker  of  books. 
He  was  the  most  popular  commentator  on  the  Scripture  of  his 
day.  He  saw  the  opportunity  which  was  before  him,  and  he  im- 
proved it,  of  supplying  a  series  of  biblical  hand-books  which 
should  meet  the  needs  of  the  growing  number  of  Sunday-school 
teachers  throughout  the  world,  and  his  book  attained  a  usefulness 
and  circulation  which  had  been  equalled  by  nothing  of  the  kind 
ever  before.  To  that  he  added  other  books  on  the  atonement 
and  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  and  spread  his  fame  not  only 
in  this  land,  but  in  other  lands,  and  even  into  heathen  lands  as 
well ;  and  so  under  him  the  press  was  allied  with  the  pulpit,  as 
under  Ewing  and  Alison  the  school  had  been  allied  with  this 
pulpit.  It  was  known  throughout  the  world  as  the  great  com- 
mentator's pulpit,  and  strangers  came  to  Philadelphia  that  they 
might  hear  him  preach.  The  same  thing  has  been  seen  frequently 
in  more  recent  times,  but  Albert  Barnes  was  I  suppose  the  first 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  105 

to  ally  the  power  of  the  pen  with  that  of  the  living  voice.  Nor 
can  I  venture  to  trust  myself  to  delay  to-night  to  describe  his 
personal  character.  Would  that  I  were  able  to  frame  a  fitting 
tribute  to  express  the  love  and  veneration  that  we  feel !  He  was 
the  embodiment  of  conscience.  He  never  swerved  from  the  path 
of  duty,  if  he  knew  it.  He  was  as  simple  and  unaffected  as  a 
child.  He  had  the  gentleness  of  a  woman  and  the  courage  of  a 
knight.  He  was  utterly  without  pretensions.  He  was  singu- 
larly distrustful  of  himself,  so  that  he  was  surprised  both  at  his 
own  fame  and  at  the  success  of  his  books.  His  piety  was  of  the 
serene  kind,  like  a  southern  sky.  His  convictions  were  as  deep 
as  the  deep  sea  currents.  To  hundreds  of  homes  in  Philadelphia 
he  was  the  representative  of  all  that  was  holy  and  strong.  We 
reverenced  him,  we  admired  him,  we  loved  him. 

But  I  am  not  to  speak  of  these  things,  but  of  the  pulpit,  for 
that  is  my  theme ;  and  yet,  when  one  comes  to  consider  wherein 
lay  the  secret  of  the  pulpit  power  of  Albert  Barnes,  there  is  need 
for  most  careful  thought.  He  was,  both  in  his  manner  and  in 
his  method,  a  singularly  plain  and  direct  speaker.  He  was  no 
orator.  He  lacked  in  imagination.  He  had  no  powers  of  rhe- 
torical description.  He  did  not  make  use  of  illustrations  to  any 
large  degree.  He  did  not  use  any  of  the  outward  or  external 
helps  which  most  men  employ  to  make  their  delivery  emphatic. 
His  power  must  have  lain  in  what  he  said,  and  in  that  alone, 
and  if  I  may  be  bold  enough  in  this  presence  to-night  to  en- 
deavor to  analyze  wherein  lay  the  power  of  the  pulpit  of  Albert 
Barnes,  I  think  I  would  make  it  to  lie  in  the  following  features. 
First  of  all,  that  it  definitely  and  positively  represented  to  the 
community  certain  ideas  for  which  he  was  known  to  stand,  to 
emphasize,  and  which  his  pulpit  was  the  exponent  of.  Albert 
Barnes,  largely  perhaps  through  the  controversy,  and  through 
the  need  of  the  emphasis,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  which  was  then 
required  to  be  placed  upon  these  things,  emphasized  the  freedom 
of  the  gospel,  the  responsibilities  of  the  individual  man,  and  the 
universal  sweep  and  power  of  the  redemption  of  the  crucified. 
It  may  seem  strange  to  us  that  such  things  should  have  made  a 


106  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

pulpit  conspicuous  or  distinctive,  but  we  live  in  a  different  atmos- 
phere altogether.  Men  came  to  this  church  expecting  to  hear 
that  side  of  truth  emphasized,  and  they  heard  it.  Men  came  to 
this  church  expecting  to  hear  ringing  protestations  of  gospel 
freedom,  human  responsibility,  and  the  everlasting  and  universal 
offering  of  the  cross,  and  they  heard  it ;  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt,  first  of  all,  that  it  was  the  association  in  men's  minds  of 
Albert  Barnes  with  that  distinctive  emphasis  on  truth  which  he 
gave  it,  which  made  him  in  the  first  place  the  power  of  his 
pulpit.  Then,  next  to  that,  his  pulpit  was  conspicuous  as  a 
rational  pulpit.  You  listened  to  him  as  to  a  man  who  had 
thought  out  a  system  of  Christianity  from  premise  to  conclusion. 
He  never  seemed  to  want  to  drive  or  to  excite  you,  but  always 
to  persuade  you.  This  was  conspicuously  the  type  of  his  mind. 
He  had  a  logical  mind.  His  favorite  argument  was  the  argu- 
ment from  analogy.  He  had  been  much  influenced  by  Thomas 
Chalmers.  Especially,  however,  in  his  own  personal  experi- 
ence the  cause  of  this  lay.  He  had  first  been  skeptical,  and  he 
continued,  I  may  fairly  say,  to  have  the  skeptical  habit  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  He  always  felt  the  power  of  doubt.  He  always 
felt  the  power  of  opposing  arguments.  Unless  a  thing  rationally 
commended  itself  to  his  understanding,  rationally  commended  it- 
self to  his  comprehension,  he  would  not  accept  of  it.  Christian- 
ity must  seem  to  him  rational,  or  he  could  not  preach  it.  This 
was  the  second  source  of  his  power.  There  are  not  many  men 
who  like  long  to  listen  to  mere  dogmatism.  There  are  not  many 
men  who  like  long  to  be  fed  with  the  nebulous  diet  which  comes 
from  the  hands  of  the  mystic.  Neither  of  those  classes  were  the 
men  that  were  attracted  to  Albert  Barnes.  But  the  fundamental 
characteristic  of  his  method  of  preaching  was  that  it  was  an  ap- 
peal to  the  reason  of  men,  and  he  believed  from  his  very  soul, 
what  some  men  in  our  day  are  foolishly  denying,  that  although 
Christianity  is  supernatural  absolutely  and  wholly,  yet  that  it 
can  justify  itself  at  the  bar  of  the  human  mind. 

Then,  in  the  third  place,  the  power  of  Albert  Barnes'  preach- 
ing lay  in  the  fact  that  it  was  expository.     This  was  the  result 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.      >       107 

doubtless  of  his  own  commentaries  and  their  influence  upon  him- 
self. It  is  one  thing  to  be  biblical ;  it  is  another  thing  to  be 
expository.  He  loved  to  go  through  the  Bible  book  by  book,  or 
through  a  book  in  order,  as  he  did  in  his  own  exposition  of  them. 
That  was  the  day  when  this  was  not  common.  Dogmatical  con- 
troversy was  to  the  front,  and  the  consequence  of  his  method  of 
continuous  biblical  exposition  was  that  his  people  came  to  drink, 
Sunday  after  Sunday,  of  the  fresh,  clear  waters  of  salvation,  and 
of  course  they  came  again  and  again  to  drink. 

But  again  we  add  to  that,  that  the  power  of  the  pulpit  of  Al- 
bert Barnes  lay  in  the  fact  that  he  always  emphasized  the  appli- 
cation of  the  teachings  of  Scripture  to  current  social  and  even 
political  questions.  As  I  have  said,  his  interest  was  practical 
and  not  speculative,  through  and  through,  and  he  had  the  cour- 
age of  his  convictions.  He  lived  in  an  age  of  controversy.  It 
was  in  1833,  when  he  had  just  come  to  this  church  and  when  the 
storms  of  theological  controversy  were  upon  him,  that  he  preached 
a  brief  sermon  on  the  Christian's  conformity  to  the  world,  in 
which  he  levelled  his  shafts  against  doubtful  amusements  and 
social  vices.  Then  his  pulpit  stood  for  aggressive  religion  and 
against  aggressive  iniquity.  He  lived  at  a  time  when  the  Sun- 
day-school was  first  coming  into  being,  and,  as  I  have  said,  his 
"  Notes  "  were  intended  to  advance  that  movement.  Missions, 
in  the  next  place,  were  to  the  front.  The  church  was  just  be- 
ginning to  realize  that  the  gospel  was  to  be  preached  to  the 
world,  and  into  the  missionary  movement  Albert  Barnes  threw 
himself  with  his  old  enthusiasm.  Next  came  the  temperance 
question.  He  lived  at  a  time  when  men's  minds  were  just  be- 
ginning to  be  awakened  to  the  awful  degradation  of  Christendom 
through  drink,  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  he  not  only  throughout 
his  life  declared  himself  on  the  side  of  total  abstinence  against 
an  overwhelming  sentiment,  but  that  he  had  the  satisfaction, 
when  in  Morristown  and  a  young  man,  of  knowing  that  through 
his  labors  the  drink  traffic  had  nearly  been  driven  out  of  that 
community.  Then  came  the  threatening  storm  of  civil  strife. 
The  slavery  question  was  uppermost.     Men  spoke  of  it  with 


108  Bi-ccatennial  Celebration  of  the 

bated  breath.  They  expressed  their  opinions  at  the  risk  of 
friendship  and  reputation.  Homes  were  divided.  Friendships 
were  broken.  Mr.  Barnes  uttered  his  emphatic  protest  against 
the  peculiar  institution  as  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  declaring 
that  it  was  unholy  in  the  sight  of  God,  not  as  an  agitator  would, 
but  with  the  calmness  and  dignity  and  profound  conviction  of  a 
man  of  God,  and  people  listened  to  those  calm,  brief  words  as 
they  would  to  a  martyr  who  was  ready  to  die  for  his  faith.  In 
fact,  the  most  pathetic  thing  about  Mr.  Barnes'  pulpit  was  the 
interest  which  he  took  in  life.  He  longed  to  live ;  he  longed 
that  he  might  be  spared  to  see  the  onward  movement  of  progress. 
His  intelligent  interest  was  the  keenest  in  the  things  which  were 
taking  place  about  him ;  and  what  gives  a  pulpit  more  power, 
my  hearers,  than  a  man  whose  soul  is  filled  with  the  truth  which 
has  come  from  God,  and  at  the  same  time  whose  life  is  in  the 
closest  touch  with  the  struggles,  doubts  and  questionings  of  the 
men  and  women  about  him,  and  who  brings  that  truth  and  that 
struggling  humanity  together?  That  is  what  Mr.  Barnes  did. 
There  lay  one  great  secret  of  his  power.  I  should  not  fail  to 
add  that  he  was  eminently  a  hopeful  preacher.  He  was  a  con- 
vinced optimist.  He  seems  to  me  to  have  anticipated  Brown- 
ing's words,  "  God  is  in  his  heaven.  All  is  right  with  the 
world."  Not  that  but  Mr.  Barnes,  or  Browning  either,  failed  to 
see  the  shame,  the  guilt  of  life,  but  that  he  believed  in  redemp- 
tion, that  he  believed  in  the  onward,  conquering  march  of  the 
Christ,  and  he  believed  that  the  world  was  ever  getting  better 
under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  and  therefore  he  came  to  his 
people  with  this  cheering,  hearty,  hopeful,  steadfast  faith,  which 
was  ever  sure  to  bring  peace  and  joy  to  their  hearts.  Such 
seems  to  me  to  have  been  the  secret,  humanly  speaking,  of  the 
power  of  the  pulpit  of  Albert  Barnes. 

Many  of  us  remember  that  Sunday  morning  when  the  news 
sped  from  home  to  home  that  he  was  gone.  Like  Enoch,  he  had 
walked  with  God,  and  like  Enoch,  he  was  not  found,  for  God  had 
taken  him.  In  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  without 
a  struggle  and  without  a  pain,  and  perhaps  just  because  of  the 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  109 

swiftness  of  his  translation,  does  his  life  stand  before  us  in  its 
unbroken,  massive  strength,  and  he,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh. 

So  I  bring  to  a  close,  my  hearers,  my  hasty  sketch  of  the  pulpit 
of  this  church.  To  sum  it  up,  let  me  say  that  from  the  begin- 
ning it  has  been  an  intellectual  pulpit,  dealing  with  men  by  the 
power  of  great  truths,  never  descending  to  the  trivial  or  the 
sentimental ;  fundamentally  believing  that  thought  is  the  master 
of  the  man,  and  that  ideas  are  the  moving  power  of  the  human 
heart,  It  has  been  a  theological  pulpit,  never  hesitating  to 
explain  the  articles  of  the  Christian  creed,  and  believing  that 
Christian  life  can  be  best  fed  by  specific  and  articulate  doctrine. 
It  has  been  a  human  pulpit,  in  touch  with  life,  sensitive  to  the 
needs  and  struggles  of  those  about  it.  A  nd,  to  crown  all,  it  has 
been  from  the  beginning  on,  as  it  is  this  day,  an  evangelical 
pulpit.  It  has  proclaimed  man's  lost  state.  It  has  proclaimed 
redemption  by  the  crucified  alone.  It  has  proclaimed  the  saving 
power  of  the  blood  of  Calvary.  Behind  these  men  who  have 
stood  in  the  pulpit  of  the  First  Church  there  has  ever  been  the 
cross,  unseen  and  yet  not  unseen  ;  for,  with  streaming  eyes  and 
trembling  lips  and  beating  hearts,  they  have  been  calling  the 
generations,  one  after  another,  to  come  beneath  its  shadow,  and 
they  have  proclaimed  that  there  is  no  salvation  save  in  him  who 
hung  thereon,  and  therefore  in  this  church  thousands  have  found 
the  way  of  life.  Here  children  have  sung  the  praises  of  their 
Redeemer.  Here  young  men  and  women  have  made  their  con- 
fession. Here  strong  men  have  bowed  and  submitted  their  lives 
to  Christ,  and  a  great  host,  some  of  them  in  glory  and  some  of 
them  still  upon  the  field  of  battle,  are  what  they  are  to-day, 
under  God,  because  of  the  ministry  of  this  dear  old  church.  Yet 
we  cannot  merely  honor  our  fathers.  We  rather  thank  God  that 
he  gave  them  unto  us.  Then  we  take  courage  for  the  future,  and 
we  swear  as  by  the  altars  of  our  sires  that  we,  too,  will  proclaim 
the  truth  as  they  proclaimed  it,  and  that  we,  too,  will  do  it  fear- 
lessly and  fully  as  they  did  it;  that  we  will  meet  the  ques- 
tions of  our  day  as  they  met  the  questious  of  their  day, 
and    that,    above    all,    like    our    fathers,    we  will    uphold   the 


110  Bi-cen  term  ia  I  Celebration. 

cross  of  Calvary,  let  men  say  what  they  will,  and  proclaim 
that  atonement  for  human  sin  which  it  has  been  the  glory  of  this 
pulpit  to  proclaim.  We  will  summon  the  twentieth  century  to 
come  to  the  service  of  their  Redeemer  as  our  fathers  did  the  two 
centuries  that  are  gone.  If  Ave  have  had  a  great  history,  may 
God  give  us  a  great  future. 

HYMN  521.      • 

BENEDICTION. 


TUESDAY  EVENING, 

NOVEMBER  15,  189S. 


GREETINGS  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 

ANTHEM. — "How  Amiable  are  Thy  Dwellings." — Barnby. 

PRAYER.— Rev.  William  H.  Roberts,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Stated  Clerk  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Oh,  Thou  who  art  the  King  immortal  and  eternal,  lift  upon 
us,  as  we  stand  within  this  sanctuary,  the  light  of  Thy  presence. 
Shed  abroad  within  our  hearts,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  influences 
of  the  faith  and  the  hope  which  are  in  Thy  Son,  our  Lord 
and  Saviour.  As  we  gather  together  this  evening  hour  may  it  be 
true  of  each  one  of  us  that  he  can  say,  with  Thy  ancient  servant, 
"  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  let  us  go  into  the  house  of 
the  Lord."  We  praise  Thee,  O  God,  for  Thine  unnumbered 
mercies  unto  us,  Thy  people.  We  thank  Thee  alike  for  the  gifts 
of  Thy  providence  and  the  riches  of  Thy  saving  grace.  We  bless 
Thee,  above  all,  for  Thy  gift  unspeakable  unto  us,  Thy  Son, 
Jesus  Christ,  the  great  head  of  Thy  Church,  the  Catholic.  We 
bless  Thee  in  this  hour  for  the  Church,  which  is  His  body,  for 
that  portion  of  it  which  is  found  within  this  Zion,  for  the  history 
of  this  particular  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  faithful  servants 
of  the  Lord  who  here  have  endeavored  to  do  their  duty  unto 
Him  from  generation  to  generation.  We  thank  Thee  likewise, 
O  God,  for  the  history  of  that  larger  branch  of  Thy  Church  of 
which  we  are  all  members.    We  praise  Thee  for  the  Presbyterian 

ill 


112  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

Church  in  these  United  States  of  America.  We  thank  Thee 
that  in  all  its  history  it  has  been  faithful  to  the  word  of  Thy 
truth,  to  the  doctrines  of  the  cross,  and  to  the  headship  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  We  bless  Thee  that,  knowing  the  truth,  it  has  pro- 
claimed that  truth,  and  that  through  that  truth  this  great  nation, 
of  which  Ave  are  a  part,  is  in  truth  free  with  the  freedom  with 
which  Christ  enfranchises  immortal  souls.  We  thank  Thee  for 
Thy  rich  blessing  as  ministered  to  our  church,  for  the  missionary 
spirit  which  for  several  generations  has  stirred  within  her,  for 
the  triumphs  of  the  gospel  as  achieved,  under  Thy  blessing, 
through  her  instrumentality.  We  bless,  Thee,  Father,  for  our 
beloved  country.  We  thank  Thee  that  in  her  borders  Christ  is 
honored  and  served,  and  we  pray  Thee  that,  more  and  more 
through  her  in  every  troublous  time,  Thou  wouldst  vindicate  the 
wisdom  of  Thy  guidance,  and  wouldst  glorify  in  our  history  Thy 
Son,  Jesus  Christ.  More  and  more  give  us  as  a  people  to  walk  in 
His  footsteps  and  to  be  true  to  His  gospel,  which  is  to  be 
preached  unto  every  creature,  and  is  to  bring  life  and  liberty  and 
joy,  both  for  this  life  and  the  life  which  is  to  come.  Unite  all 
Americans,  we  pray  Thee,  and  bless  them  for  Thy  Church  uni- 
versal. We  thank  Thee  for  that  Church  which  is  Thine  house, 
O  God,  the  pillar  and  the  ground  of  the  truth,  as  found  in  every 
land,  and  we  pray  Thee  more  and  more  purify  her  unto  Thyself, 
sanctify  her  by  Thy  spirit,  and  make  her  to  be  in  truth  a  glori- 
ous Church.  And  now,  abide  with  us,  we  pray  Thee,  through- 
out this  service.  As  Thou  hast  shed  abroad  here  within  this 
house  and  throughout  the  borders  of  Thy  Zion  Thy  presence  in 
clays  past,  lift  upon  us  the  light  of  Thy  favor  this  evening  and 
the  succeeding  evenings  of  this  anniversary  occasion,  and  bless, 
we  beseech  Thee,  all  of  us,  with  all  the  interests  which  we  repre- 
sent as  we  bow  in  Thy  presence.  May  Thy  rich  blessings  rest 
upon  this  congregation,  upon  the  pastor  who  here  abides  in 
strength,  upon  all  who  are  associated  with  him  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord,  upon  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  these  United  States, 
and  the  people  of  Christ  in  every  land.  May  it  be,  O  God, 
clearly  made  manifest  in  the  days  that  are  close  at  hand  that 


THE  MARKET  STREET  i'lll'Ki'11  ()K  17H4. 


|p ;RP|tp  BJlIlfPii 


THE  ALBERT  BARNES  MEMORIAL,  CORNER  OF  SEVENTH  AND  SPRUCE  STREETS. 

ERECTED  1896. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  113 

Thou  art  in  the  midst  of  Thy  people,  causing  prosperity  to  be 
made  manifest  in  her  palaces  and  peace  to  dwell  within  her 
borders.  Glorify  Thy  Son  through  the  unity  of  Thy  people  in 
their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  their  hope  of  salvation  to  Him,  and 
their  labors  for  the  spread  of  His  kingdom  ;  and  unto  Thy  name, 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  shall  be  all  the  praise.     Amen. 

HYMN  307. 

KEV.  HERRICK  JOHNSON,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

It  is  not  often  that  an  audience  is  favored  with  the  presence  of 
three  Moderators  in  the  pulpit  or  on  the  platform.  It  is  more 
rare  that  each  of  these  three  Moderators  should  be  down  for  a 
speech,  and  it  is  more  rare  still  that  these  Moderators  should 
represent  such  august  bodies  as  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia, 
the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America.  It  is  my 
business  to  moderate  these  Moderators  to-night;  but  their  moder- 
ation being  known  and  read  of  all  men  already,  they  will  need 
no  moderating;  and  so  I  will  call  upon  Dr.  Wallace  RadclifFe, 
D.D.,  Bishop  at  Washington,  and  Moderator  of  the  Assembly  of 
the  United  States  that  met  at  Wenonah  last  May,  to  give  us  the 
first  address. 

ADDRESS. -Rev.  Wallace  Radcliffe,  D.D., 

Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Brethren  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia,  I 
am  sure  if  formal  voice  could  be  given  I  would  be  authorized  to 
bring  to  you  in  your  thanksgiving  the  hearty  congratulations  of 
the  whole  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
This  is  no  local  interest.  It  lias  been  no  temporary  achievement. 
Your  name  and  your  influence  reaches  beyond  the  confines  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  all  good  people  rejoice  with  you,  and 
congratulate  you  upon  the  memories  of  the  past,  the  joys  and 


114  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

inspirations  of  this  hour.  There  is  no  need  to-night  to  heed  the 
apostolic  admonition  to  forget  the  things  that  are  behind,  and  I 
apprehend  no  dread  of  any  saline  judgment,  nor  any  need  of 
admonition  to  remember  Lot's  wife.  We  will  look  back ;  for  we 
do  not  look  back  upon  any  sin  or  Sodom,  but  upon  that  which 
carries  in  it  joy,  help,  high  achievement  and  rare  and  precious 
hope.  Many  things  are  emphasized  in  the  history  and  work  of 
this  church.  I  think  every  one  will  recognize  that  among  these 
the  first — not  the  first  thing  perhaps  in  importance,  but  the  first 
that  I  will  mention — is  that  you  have  emphasized  the  authority 
of  the  sermon.  The  pulpit  has  been  the  central  thing  in  the 
worship  of  this  church.  It  has  been  the  commanding  thing  in  the 
history  and  influence  of  this  church.  It  needs  emphasis  in  our  day. 
We  have  sometimes  the  suggestion  that  the  sermon  must  be  ab- 
breviated, that  there  must  be  somehow  an  intrusion  of  other  things 
that  shall  give  it  a  subordinate  place.  Nay,  there  are  those  who 
will  see  it  entirely  out  of  its  honored  place  in  church  services, 
as  they  vainly  imagine  that  in  the  day  of  culture  and  spiritual 
achievement  the  sermon  has  lost  its  power  and  place.  There  was 
a  definition  in  one  of  the  old  books  on  homiletics  which  said 
that  the  sermon  was  a  brief  essay  upon  some  religious  subject,  to 
be  read  after  service.  I  do  not  suppose  that  this  church  ever 
accepted  that  definition  of  the  sermon.  You  have  magnified 
your  pulpit.  You  have  demanded  the  consecrated  brain,  and 
therefore  from  this  church  have  gone  out  the  streams  that  have 
made  glad  the  city  of  our  God.  The  message  of  the  church  is  a 
proclamation  of  truth,  of  special  truth  for  special  purposes.  Its 
business  is  to  announce  truth,  that  human  souls  may  be  redeemed 
and  built  up  into  the  likeness  of  Jesus  Christ.  Its  business  is  to 
proclaim  not  economy,  not  sociology,  and  certainly  not  the  tran- 
sient interests  of  passing  politics,  but  transcendentlv,  supremely 
always,  the  truth  which  is  to  liberate  man  from  sin  and  bring 
him  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  Truth  is  in 
order  to  goodness.  Truth  is  necessary  to  goodness.  Xo  goodness 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Ignorance  is  not  the  mother 
of  devotion.     If  man  is  to  be  disenthralled,  if  society  is  to  be 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  115 

uplifted,  if  the  world  is  to  he  redeemed,  it  will  be  supremely  by  the 
power  of  the  written  and  preached  word.  It  will  be  a  bad  day 
for  the  world  when  the  church  is  too  busy  to  preach.  The  church 
that  preaches  is  the  church  that  conquers,  not  immediately,  not 
in  a  day  or  a  year;  but  the  church  that  brings  to  man  the  truth 
out  of  which  the  true  and  accepted  life  will  arise,  is  the  church 
that  one  day  will  comprehend  in  its  influence  and  in  its  glory 
humanity.  Nothing  else  will  make  men.  You  may  have  a 
Christmas  tree,  beautiful  to  look  upon,  full  of  toys,  brilliant  with 
lights,  but  you  cannot  have  an  oak  unless  it  has  the  roots 
grounded  in  the  soil,  and  the  Tree  of  Life  arises  from  the  roots 
of  the  true  doctrine;  and  this  church  has  emphasized,  and  does 
to-day  in  its  history  emphasize,  in  the  second  place,  the  vitality 
of  Presbyterian  doctrine.  We  are  told  sometimes  that  Presby- 
terianism  has  passed  its  growth,  that  Calvinism  is  about  dead. 
It  is  the  fashion  to  look  at  us  who  believe  in  it  as  rather  old 
fogies,  and  again  and  again  we  have  had  the  announcement  that 
it  is  doomed,  if  not  dead.  Calvinism  is  old,  old  as  Calvin,  old  as 
Augustine,  old  as  Paul,  old  as  David  and  Moses,  but  it  is  as  new 
as  the  nineteenth  century,  and  it  is  as  applicable  to  men's  lives, 
to  the  problems  of  society,  to  the  interests  of  legislation,  to  the 
happiness  of  the  world,  as  in  its  first  announcement.  Calvin- 
ism carries  in  itself  not  only  the  essential  characteristics  of  human 
salvation,  but  the  power  specifically  and  supremely  that  makes  for 
righteousness.  Calvinism  is  distinctly  and  distinctively  evangel- 
istic. We  are  taught  sometimes,  you  know,  that  we  are  a  good, 
staid,  sober  people;  but  if  you  want  communities  aroused,  if  you 
want  the  evident  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  if  you  want  enthusiasm 
and  numbers  and  speedy  achievement,  you  must  try  some  other 
"ism."  Presbyterianism  is  good  in  its  place,  but  we  want  some- 
thing more  noisy  and  more  direct;  and  yet  has  it  ever  occurred  to 
you  that  Calvinism  is  the  one  great  revival  doctrine  ?  It  is  under 
Calvinism  that  the  great  revivals  of  the  Church  have  occurred. 
Go  right  down  the  history  of  the  mighty  movements  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  not  here  and  there  in  little  communities,  not  in  some 
village  church,  not  as  following  the  footsteps  of  some  one  man, 


116  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

but  moving  down  the  years  and  bringing  to  men  the  power 
that  grips  communities  and  nations,  that  lifts  men  and  com- 
munities and  nations  up  from  darkness  into  the  larger  light 
and  liberty,  that  has  given  to  humanity  the  new  view  of 
Christ  and  the  larger  sense  and  power  of  the  eternal  things, 
and  from  the  beginning  until  now  you  will  find  that  it  is  by  the 
modification  and  reiteration  of  that  doctrine  which  we  call  Cal- 
vinism, and  of  those  truths  which  we  find  embodied  in  the  word 
of  God.  Read  the  book  of  the  Acts,  "  Him,  being  delivered  by 
the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God,  ye  have  taken, 
and  by  wicked  hands  have  crucified  and  slain,"  and  out  of  that 
the  revival  of  the  thousands  of  converts,  and  down  through  the 
years  the  truth  that  was  mighty  is  the  truth  which  you  and  I 
understand  as  Calvinism.  And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  when  the 
Presbyterian  doctrine  takes  hold  of  a  church  or  of  a  community, 
it  lives.  This  church  lives,  and  it  is  the  testimony  to  this  nation 
of  the  vitalizing  power  of  tin;  vitality  that  lies  in  the  truth  this 
pulpit  preached.  It  comes  to  pass,  you  know,  that  we  are  in  the 
habit  of  saying  that  you  cannot  kill  a  Presbyterian  church.  The 
funeral  is  often  appointed,  but  the  corpse  is  not  ready.  Often 
and  often  Presbyterian  ism  has  had  its  funeral  appointed,  but  we 
have  had  no  services.  I  can  remember  a  little  church  that  very 
nearly  died — a  Presbyterian  church  of  colored  people.  They  lost 
their  pastor,  they  lost  all  their  elders  but  one,  they  lost  their 
sexton,  they  lost  all  their  people  apparently,  and  the  shutters 
hung,  and  the  paint  became  discolored,  and  the  fires  went  out, 
and  things  seemed  to  be  in  dissolution,  but  the  one  remaining 
elder  became  sexton.  lie  could  not  preach,  lie  could  not  teach 
the  Sabbath-school,  but  every  Sunday  night  he  unlocked  that 
church,  and  built  a  fire,  and  by  himself  held  prayer  meeting. 
"All  the  winter  long  the  prayer  meeting  of  one,  or,  as  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  saying— dear  old  Hiram  Fry,  of  blessed  memory— 
"A  prayer  meeting  of  four,  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  me,"  and  right  out  of  that  prayer  meeting  came 
finally,  at  the  end  of  that  winter,  quickening  thoughtfulness,  the 
gathering  of  one  and  another  to  the  prayer  meeting,  until  now 


First  Presbyterian  Chureh  in  Philadelphia.  117 

they  have  their  pastor,  their  beautiful  church,  their  crowded 
pews,  and  quite  as  good  and  quite  as  live  a  church  in  its  Presby- 
terian work  and  worship  as  any  other  church  in  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania. 

This  church  has  emphasized  again  the  grace  of  spiritual  hos- 
pitality. You  have  welcomed  new  ways  of  stating  things.  You 
got  yourselves  into  trouble  some  time  ago  by  it,  but  at  the  same 
time,  it  is  a  good  thing.  The  maiden  is  the  same,  though  she 
appear  in  muslin  or  in  silken  robes — just  as  beautiful,  just  as  fair, 
and  just  as  winning.  Truth  must  not  always  wear  upon  itself 
the  black  robe.  We  have  a  right  to  expect  new  garments,  new 
statements,  new  announcements,  new  formulas,  and  he  is  wise 
who,  knowing  the  spirit  of  the  times,  takes  the  truth  that  is  old 
and  gives  it  the  new  garment  that  makes  it  winning  and 
acceptable  to  the  common  man.  You  have  been  hospitable  further, 
in  that  you  have  welcomed  newT  ways  of  doing:  thing's.  Some 
churches  do  things  by  going  away  from  them ;  they  move  out,  but 
there  were  things  to  be  done  in  this  community.  The  gospel  was 
still  to  be  preached.  It  required  grit  and  grace  to  stand  in  your 
lot,  to  accept  your  responsibilities,  and  to  here  fulfill  the  work  of 
your  anointing.  It  is  the  great  problem  of  to-day.  We  have 
not  yet  conquered  the  cities.  The  gospel  of  Christ  is  blocked 
in  its  approach  and  hindered  in  our  great  cities  as  nowhere  else, 
and  through  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  by  the  activity  of  the 
church,  the  nation  is  to  come  to  its  larger  life  and  better  liberty 
as  the  gospel,  through  the  church,  solves  the  problem  of  the 
large  cities.  You  are  meeting  your  responsibilities.  That 
trouble,  I  believe,  is  to  be  met  not  by  more  churches,  but  by 
large  ones.  It  is  to  be  met  along  the  line  that  the  Westmins- 
ter divines  taught  us,  as  they  taught  in  their  day — the  multi- 
plicity of  helpers,  the  doctor  and  the  pastor,  the  multitude  of 
helpers  which  shall  seize  the  opportunities,  which  shall  go  down 
the  varied  and  multiplying  channels  of  religious  activity,  and 
make  a  large  church  a  mighty  factor,  a  fountain  of  influence  from 
which  shall  go  out  the  multiplied  streams  of  beneficence  to  their 
communities.     And  so,  out  of  this  all,  dear  brethren,  I  congrat- 


118  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

ulateyou  that  these  and  all  other  things  but  emphasize  in  your 
life  and  in  your  hopes  the  sure  presence  of  the  Divine  Spirit. 
All  honor  to  the  men  who  in  the  years  past  have  consecrated  talent 
and  service  here.  All  honor  to  the  men  and  women  who  by 
their  faith  and  prayers  have  magnified  here  the  grace  of  our  God. 
All  honor  to  the  history  of  the  years,  for  this  is  but  honoring  the 
present  grace  and  magnifying  the  name  of  the  present  Christ. 
This  history  had  been  impossible  save  as  Christ  was  fulfilling  to 
you,  as  he  has  through  all  of  the  years,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you 
alwavs,"  day  by  day  and  every  day  unto  the  end  of  the  world. 
'May  the  benediction  continue,  that  the  years  to  come  shall  reveal 
still  in  the  larger  faith,  in  the  better  patience,  in  the  more  radiant 
hope,  in  the  nobler  achievement,  the  spirit  of  Him  who  walketh 
in  the  midst  of  the  golden  candlesticks. 

REV.  HERRICK  JOHNSON,  D.D ,  LL.D. 

It  has  been  the  blessed  custom  of  this  great  anniversary  week 
to  have  an  offering  made  at  each  service  in  behalf  of  the  endow- 
ment fund  of  this  church,  and  in  the  full  belief  of  one  of  the 
doctrines  that  have  been  eulogized  to-night  and  commended  every 
night  from  this  platform,  in  the  full  belief  of  the  perseverance 
of  the  saints,  we  mean  to  continue  this  custom  to  the  close  of  the 
week,  and  an  offering  is  to  be  made  to-night  in  behalf  of  the 
endowment  fund  of  this  church.  May  I  be  pardoned  if  I  refer  to 
the  historical  fact  that  this  endowment  fund  originated,  not  through 
any  purpose  of  my  own,  but  incidentally,  while  I  was  pastor  of 
this  church.  Many  of  us  felt  that  this  church  ought  to  move  to 
another  part  of  the  city  and  continue  its  work  there  as  one  of  the 
great  historical  churches  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  A  subscription  was  started  for  the 
purpose.  It  reached  something  like  $40,000,  but  there  were 
some  so  reluctant  to  move  from  the  old  spot,  and  so  many  entered 
their  protest,  that  the  movement  was  finally  abandoned.  I  thank 
God  for  that  this  evening.  I  believe,  though  I  did  not  believe  at 
the  time,  that  it  was  a  wise  decision.     Many  of  the  subscribers 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  119 


to  that  fund  for  the  removal  of  the  church  determined  to  let 
their  contributions  stand  as  contributions  to  an  endowment  fund 
that  should  perpetuate  the  existence  of  this  church  for  all  time  in 
this  locality,  and  who  can  doubt  but  that  that  was  a  wise  decis- 
ion? God  has  put  before  this  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Philadelphia  a  door  open,  and  there  is  a  great  and  wide  and 
blessed  work  for  this  church  to  do  in  the  future.  It  needs  this 
endowment  fund.  You  all  know  that  wealth  in  large  part  has 
moved  away  from  this  locality,  and  the  congregation  cannot  be 
depended  upon  for  all  the  vast  expense  which  is  involved  in  con- 
nection with  the  prosecution  of  such  work  as  is  being  done  bv 
this  church  at  this  time,  and  hence  it  is  proposed  to  advance  the 
endowment  fund  during  this  anniversary  week.  Something 
like  $100,000  has  already  been  secured.  It  ought  to  have 
$200,000.  Brethren,  as  the  Lord  has  prospered  you,  give 
to-night,  that  you  may  put  a  stone  in  this  building  that  shall 
perpetuate  the  Presbyterian  influence  and  the  gospel  of  the  blessed 
God.  There  are  cards  in  the  pews  for  the  use  of  those  who  may 
not  be  provided  with  the  requisite  funds,  and  the  offering  will 
now  be  made. 

OFFERTORY. 

REV.  HERRICK  JOHNSON,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Rev.  Dr.  George  W.  Chalfant,  our  Bishop  at  Pittsburg,  and 
Moderator  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  will  be  the  next 
speaker.  He  brings  to  the  mother  church  of  this  city  the 
greetings  of  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania. 


ADDRESS.— Rev.  George  W.  Chalfant,  D.D. 

In  the  arrangement  of  this  program  the  order  of  official 
dignity  has  perhaps  been  in  view— the  General  Assembly,  the 
Synod  and  the  Presbytery.  The  historical  order,  you  know, 
would  be  just  the.  opposite,  and  in  either  case,  above  all,  we  put 
in  the  place  of  honor  the  church  out  of  which  they  sprang,  one 


1 20  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

following  the  other.  In  the  country — a  great  country,  the  most 
populous  as  it  is  the  oldest  in  the  world — in  which  it  was  my 
privilege  to  spend  this  year  from  March  to  October,  antiquity  is 
honored  as  it  is  nowhere  else.  Among  the  old  things  that  we 
saw  there  was  the  great  wall,  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
long,  forty  feet  thick  at  the  bottom  and  twenty-five  at  the  top, 
and  thirty-five  feet  high,  that  for  twenty-three  hundred  years  has 
stood  between  China  proper  and  the  roving  bands  of  the  far 
North.  One  Sabbath  we  spent  in  an  old  temple  called  the 
"Temple  of  the  Horn  Mountain,"  just  at  the  base  of  the  wall 
where  it  surmounts  the  loftiest  peak  of  the  mountains  separating 
China  proper  from  Manchuria.  We  knew  that  the  temple  was  about 
the  same  age  as  the  wall  itself,  and  was  closely  associated  in 
thought  and  in  the  estimation  of  the  people  with  it.  We  asked 
the  priest  who  presided  up  there  what  this  temple  had  to  do 
with  the  wall.  "Why,"  he  said,  "don't  you  know,  by  the  temple 
the  wall  stands  ?  "  Now,  outwardly  it  appeared  to  us  that  the 
temple  was  defended  by  the  wall,  because  it  was  on  the  safe  side, 
the  Chinese  side  of  that  great  bulwark ;  but,  on  further  reflection,  we 
saw  that  perhaps  the  priest  had  represented  the  matter  more  accord- 
ing to  the  truth,  for  the  temple  was  supposed  to  represent  that  invis- 
ible power  by  which  all  outward  thiugs  subsist.  And  so  it  seems 
to  me,  if  yonder  Independence  Hall  represents  the  bulwark  of 
that  in  this  land  which  we  all  prize  and  value — our  social  and 
political  structure ;  and  then,  if  this  old  church  represents,  as  it 
does  represent,  the  service  and  worship  rendered  to  the  Supreme 
Spiritual  Power,  we  can  stand  here  to-night  and  say,  "  By  the 
temple  the  wall  stands." 

But  a  social  custom  prevails  in  that  old  country,  to  which  I 
intended  principally  to  refer  when  I  introduced  this  illustration, 
a  social  rule  which  we  saw  exemplified  on  more  than  one  occasion. 
Many  generations  dwell  in  the  same  house,and  where  there  is  a  grand- 
father and  a  father  and  a  son,  or  even  another  generation — four 
generations  or  five  generations  in  the  household — it  is  the  universal 
law  all  over  that  land  that  when  the  grandfather  sits  down  to  his 
meal,  or  to  the  feast  of  honor,  all  his  descendants  stand  and  wait. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  121 

Never  would  one  of  them,  though  he  were  the  emperor  himself, 
dare  to  sit  down  with  the  aged  parent  at  the  same  feast.  The 
younger  only  look  on  and  try  to  take  in  and  contribute  to  the 
honor  and  joy  of  the  elders;  and  so  we  come  to  serve  you 
to-night,  But  we  are  reminded  that  the  antiquity  of  China  is 
largely  an  effete,  lifeless  thing,  yields  no  fruit,  develops  no  fresh 
interest,  accomplishes  nothing  for  the  present  generation  and 
promises  nothing  for  the  future.  This,  we  rejoice  to  know,  is  not 
true  of  the  antiquity  of  this  church.  That  antiquity  is  the 
antiquity  of  the  brook,  that  goes  on  forever ;  of  the  living,  fruit- 
bearing  tree,  that  gathers  in  strength  and  gathers  in  the  blessed 
return  that  it  affords  to  those  who  may  enjoy  it  from  year  to 
year  and  from  age  to  age.  What  we  rejoice  in,  above  all  other 
things,  looking  back  over  these  two  hundred  years,  is  that  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia,  from  the  beginning 
until  now,  has  stood  for  an  aggressive,  earnest  evangelism,  has 
meant  going  out  to  seek  ancHo  save  the  lost.  Pardon  me  if  I  illus- 
trate and  enforce  this  single  observation  by  an  incident  that  is 
somewhat  personal.  My  own  ancestors  came  to  Philadelphia 
with  that  good  old  man  whom  you  all  honor,  William  Penn, 
before  this  church  was  built,  but  my  grandfather  removed  beyond 
the  mountains.  There  my  father  was  born  and  lived  and  died, 
and  there  I  was  born  and  reared  and  had  my  education  until  I 
was  ready  to  enter  the  ministry.  My  first  call  was  to  this  side 
of  the  mountains,  to  the  neighborhood  of  Harrisburg,  where  I 
became  the  first  pastor  of  a  little  church  that  had  been  organized 
only  a  little  while  before.  In  that  church  there  was,  among 
others,  an  elder,  a  physician  of  very  large  practice,  of  very  exem- 
plary life,  and  active  in  all  the  Lord's  work,  highly  respected  and 
beloved  by  all  in  that  community.  That  physician  was  a  won- 
derful lover  and  admirer  of  Dr.  Albert  Barnes.  When  he  was 
a  medical  student  in  this  city,  he  attended  this  church,  and  if  I 
am  not  mistaken,  made  a  profession  of  religion  in  this  church, 
and  he  never  could  talk  enough  about  his  reminiscences  of  what 
he  had  heard  and  what  he  had  experienced  in  this  blessed  place, 
which  at  that  time  I  had  never  seen.     He  gave  me  a  little  book 


122  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

of  Albert  Barnes',  and  I  have  it  yet.  Among  other  things,  he  told 
me  a  little  story.  I  give  it  to  you  just  as  he  gave  it  to  me.  He 
said  that  one  time  a  young  man,  just  out  of  the  seminary,  was 
called  upon  to  occupy  this  pulpit  for  Dr.  Barnes.  Being  very 
much  exercised  about  it,  and  desirous  of  meeting  public  expecta- 
tion, he  came  to  Dr.  Barnes  to  consult  about  what  he  should 
preach,  and  he  brought  several  sermons  with  him.  He  had  pre- 
pared a  number  of  elaborate  sermons  in  the  way  of  exposition  or 
defence  of  the  peculiar  doctrines  that  were  exciting  a  good  deal  of 
controversy  at  that  period,  which  gathered  around  the  venerable 
pastor  of  this  church,  as  you  all  know.  He  thought  it  would  be 
eminently  proper  for  him  to  bring  the  fruits  of  his  fresh  study 
to  the  defence  of  this  great  and  good  man ;  so  he  went  over  these 
several  sermons,  and,  after  he  had  presented  them  all,  the  doctor 
said:  " My  young  brother,  keep  those  great  doctrinal  sermons 
for  the  country  church  out  where  you  reside.  People  out  there 
will  be  able  to  understand  and  appreoiate  them.  Bring  to  us,  in 
this  sinful  city,  the  simple  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  That 
little  story,  whether  true  or  false,  has  remained  in  my  mind.  It 
influenced  my  whole  ministry,  and  has  given  me  my  conception 
of  the  great  and  good  man  who  served  you  so  long — a  man  I 
never  saw,  whom  I  never  had  the  honor  of  personally  knowing ; 
but  I  feel  sure  that  it  represents  not  only  the  controlling  spirit  of 
that  great  man,  but  also  of  the  church  which  he  served,  which 
others  have  so  nobly  served  before  him  and  after  him,  and  which 
is  here  to-night  to  call  to  mind  these  precious  things  of  the 
ancient  times. 

Allow  me,  brethren,  to  emphasize,  if  possible,  this  single 
thought  in  another  way,  before  I  sit  down,  by  reciting  a  simple 
allegory  which  I  framed  many  years  ago  for  some  little  children. 
In  Arabia  there  were  two  young  men,  one  we  will  call  Mahmoud, 
and  the  other  Ali,  who  had  noticed  with  concern  how  much  the 
caravans  suffered  in  crossing  the  great  desert ;  how  they  some- 
times perished  from  thirst,  and  sometimes  were  overwhelmed  by 
the  mighty  sand  storms.  Mahmoud  was  rich,  but  Ali  was  poor. 
One  day  Mahmoud  said  to  Ali,  "  I  know  what  I  will  do.     I  will 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  123 


take  the  wealth  that  Allah  has  bestowed  upon  me,  and  I  will 
have  great  stones  carried  out  into  the  midst  of  the  desert,  and 
will  build  a  caravansary,  high  and  strong,  and  I  will  have  an 
endowed  train  of  camels  that  will  bring  supplies  across  the 
desert,  and  there  I  will  keep  abundance  of  water  and  food  for 
man  and  for  beasts."  So  he  built  this  mighty  structure,  and  upon 
the  topmost  stone  had  his  own  name  engraved,  that  posterity 
might  know  how  much  Mahmoud  had  done  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  for  the  welfare  of  humanity.  Ali  said,  "I  am  poor.  I  am 
not  able  to  build  a  great  caravansary  like  Mahmoud  has  built, 
yet  God  has  given  me  something.  He  has  given  me  patience,  he 
has  given  me  physical  strength,  and  a  measure  of  skill."  So  Ali 
went  out  in  the  desert  and  began  to  delve  with  his  hands,  and 
throw  out  the  sand,  day  after  day,  in  the  hot,  burning  sun,  until 
he  had  made  a  great  pit,  and  there  in  the  bottom  there  began  to 
appear  moisture.  Then  he  went  once,  and  again  and  again,  away 
across  the  desert,  and  bore  upon  his  shoulders  loads  of  earth,  and 
he  brought  little  seeds  and  little  sprouts  of  plants  and  trees.  He 
mixed  the  earth  with  the  moist  sand,  put  in  the  seeds  and  the 
little  sprouts;  he  attended  them  with  the  utmost  care;  they  grew 
and  flourished,  and  as  they  began  to  shed  their  shade  over  the 
opening,  lo !  the  water  increased  and  rose  and  rose  inch  by  inch, 
until,  as  years  went  by,  and  the  plants  attended  by  his  care  grew 
to  trees,  lo !  the  water  began  to  flow.  Still  he  kept  planting 
his  seeds,  and  placing  his  little  germs  along  its  banks.  It 
swelled  to  a  wide  stream,  flowed  out  into  the  desert,  and  green- 
ness and  beauty  began  to  spring  up  all  around  it.  The  ages 
rolled  on.  The  sands  of  the  desert  piled  higher  and  higher 
against  the  stout  walls  of  Mahmoud's  caravansary,  until  they 
leaped  over  them;  they  filled  all  the  space,  and  there  was  nothing 
in  the  place  of  that  mighty  and  beneficent  structure  but  a  great 
mountain  of  barren  sand.  But  Ali's  oasis  is  green  and  inviting 
still.  There  to-day  the  caravans  delight  to  rest  and  refresh 
themselves  as  they  pass  over  the  weary  desert.  So  it  seems  to 
me,  brethren,  the  laborers  of  the  past,  the  dead  and  the  living, 
have  sought  to  open  up  and  maintain  here  a  blessed  oasis  for  the 


124  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

refreshment  of  man  and  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  by  his  bless- 
ing it  abides,  and  by  that  continued  blessing  it  will  abide  until 
there  is  ushered  in  the  reign,  the  glorious  reign,  of  the  thousand 
years. 

HYMN  298. 

REV.  HERRICK  JOHNSON,  D.D.,  LL.D 

Dr.  Dana  needs  no  introduction  to  a  Philadelphia  audience. 
He  represents  for  us  to-night  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia,  and 
brings  the  greetings  of  the  brethren  of  the  city. 

ADDRESS.— Rev.  Stephen  W.  Dana,  D.D., 

Moderator  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia. 

I  esteem  it  a  privilege  and  an  honor  to  extend  the  greetings 
and  the  congratulations  of  the  Philadelphia  Presbytery  on  this 
happy  occasion. 

I  rejoice,  first  of  all,  that  this  old  mother  church  is  still  alive — 
that  after  its  two  hundred  years  of  history  it  is  so  strong  and 
vigorous  and  without  a  wrinkle  upon  its  brow. 

When  Li  Hung  Chang,- the  great  Chinese  prime  minister,  was 
visiting  this  country,  his  first  question  after  an  introduction  was, 
"  How  old  are  you '?"  The  papers  made  fun  of  it,  and  the  ladies 
did  not  always  relish  it,  considering  it  somewhat  impertinent. 
It  was  intended,  however,  as  a  compliment.  When  Jacob  came 
to  Egypt,  the  first  question  of  Pharaoh  was,  "How  old  art 
thou  ?"  Old  age  was  considered  a  crown  of  glory,  an  evidence 
of  accumulated  wisdom.  An  honored  old  age  is  still  so  con- 
sidered by  us. 

There  is  something  very  impressive  in  the  continuous  life  of  a 
nation  or  a  church.  Generations  come  and  go.  The  leaders 
and  the  led  rise,  do  their  work  and  pass  away,  but  the  old  flag 
still  waves,  and  the  old  church  still  stands.  This  church  has 
had  an  honored  pastorate,  a  distinguished  eldership  and  member- 
ship— a  vast  host  in  these  successive  years,  who  have  "  fought 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  125 

the  good  fight,  finished  their  course"  and  received  their  crown. 
But  others  have  come,  who  have  entered  into  their  heritage,  per- 
petuated their  work  and  influence,  and  will  transmit  it  to  their 
successors. 

I  rejoice,  not  only  that  you  are  alive,  but  that  you  still  remain 
on  this  old  historic  spot,  in  the  midst  of.  a  teeming  population 
who  need  the  gospel,  whether  welcoming  it  or  not. 

I  recall  the  agitation  of  twenty-five  years  ago  or  more  con- 
cerning the  sale  of  this  old  church  for  the  purpose  of  uniting 
with  another  and  moving  to  Broad  Street.  The  argument  for 
taking  such  a  step  was  that  this  church  could  not  remain  self- 
sustaining  with  so  many  of  its  families  and  best  supporters  mov- 
ing from  it.  Then  began  the  effort  to  endow  the  church.  A 
goodly  sum,  thirty  or  forty  thousand  dollars,  was  then  raised, 
and  in  these  later  years,  through  heroic  efforts,  the  endowmeut 
of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  gives  this  church  an  opportunity 
for  enlarged  usefulness  just  at  a  place  where  it  is  greatly  needed. 
You  have  found  that  "  giving  does  not  impoverish."  There  has 
been  a  continuous  outgoing  from  the  life  of  this  church  to  enrich 
others.  Yet,  on  that  account,  the  heart  of  this  mother  church 
has  been  enlarged  and  her  own  life  lifted  to  a  higher  plane. 

Those  were  days  of  small  things,  two  hundred  years  ago, 
when  Jedediah  Andrews,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  came  from 
Massachusetts  to  preach  to  that  little  company  in  the  Barbadoes 
Store  or  warehouse,  and  organized  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Philadelphia.  The  little  company  of  Presbyterians  to  whom 
he  ministered  had  Scotch,  Welsh,  Swedish  and  New  England 
elements  in  it.  The  new  congregation  was  far  from  homogene- 
ous, and  gave  little  promise  of  success.  "  The  Presbyterians," 
says  the  Episcopal  missionary  Talbot,  "  have  come  a  great  way 
to  lay  hands  on  one  another ;  but,  after  all,  I  think  they  had  as 
good  stay  at  home,  for  all  the  good  they  do." 

The  prospect  was  but  little  better  in  1703.  "They  have 
here,"  says  Keith,  "a  Presbyterian  meeting  and  minister,  one 
called  Andrews  j  but  they  are  not  like  to  increase  here." 
(Gillett,  1,  211.) 


126  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

The  first  century  of  Presbyterianism  in  Philadelphia  was  not 
one  of  marked  and  gratifying  increase.  The  bitter  dissensions 
and  controversies  had  been  one  cause  of  weakness,  and  the  in- 
tense patriotism  of  our  people  during  the  Revolution  had  sub- 
jected them  to  such  persecution  that  many  Presbyterian  families 
had  fled  the  city,  never  more  to  return.  In  addition  to  this, 
French  infidelity  had  exerted  its  deadening,  demoralizing  influ- 
ence upon  the  religious  and  irreligious  alike,  and  the  close  o-f 
the  eighteenth  century  found  the  churches  of  all  denominations 
inert  and  languishing.  At  the  beginning  of  this  century,  ninety- 
eight  years  ago,  there  were  but  three  Presbyterian  churches  in 
this  city  and  less  than  five  hundred  communicants  in  a  popula- 
tion of  69,408.  The  fourth  church  was  organized,  I  believe,  a 
year  or  two  after  this.  There  are  more  communicants  in  this 
one  church  alone  than  were  in  the  three  Presbyterian  churches 
of  Philadelphia  a  hundred  years  ago.  This  century  has  been 
marked  by  great  advance  in  evangelical  Christianity,  to  which 
the  Presbyterian  Church  has  contributed  its  share. 

Turning  our  eyes  away  from  our  own  country  and  from  the 
vast  mission  fields  beyond  the  sea,  for  which  this  church  has 
done  so  much,  I  congratulate  this  people  on  what  they  and  theirs 
have  done  for  church  extension  within  our  own  city.  A  hun- 
dred years  ago  there  were  three  Presbyterian  churches  in  Phila- 
delphia, with  five  hundred  communicants.  Now  there  are 
seventy-three  churches  in  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  alone, 
and  within  the  city  limits  there  are  ninety-eight  churches  be- 
longing to  our  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  with  41,013 
communicants  and  46,532  in  the  Sunday-schools.  In  1800 
there  was  one  Presbyterian  church  to  23,136  of  the  population. 
Now  there  is  one  church  to  12,244.  In  1800  there  was  one 
Presbyterian  communicant  to  every  138  of  the  population ;  in 
1898  one  Presbyterian  communicant  to  twenty-nine  and  a  quar- 
ter of  the  population. 

In  this  steady  advance  this  old  church  has  had  no  small  share. 
I  shall  not  attempt  a  full  history  of  church  extension,  but  shall 
single  out  a  few  of  the  notable  instances  in  which  this  church 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  127 

has  borne  a  noble  part.  In  1808,  Mr.  Hamilton,  who  lived  in 
the  old  mansion  which  still  stands  in  Woodlands  Cemetery,  and 
after  whom  that  suburb  of  the  city  was  at  one  time  called 
Hamiltonville,  gave  a  plot  of  ground  to  different  denominations 
in  that  village  on  condition  that  a  church  should  be  built  upon 
it  within  twenty  years.  In  1828,  the  last  year  of  grace,  mem- 
bers of  this  church  gave  two  thousand  dollars  to  put  up  a  simple 
edifice  on  the  lot  given  to  the  Presbyterians,  in  which  twelve 
years  after,  in  1840,  was  organized  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Walnut  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  unto  which  I  have  had  the 
joy  and  privilege  of  ministering  for  over  thirty  years.  The 
Walnut  Street  Church,  in  turn,  in  addition  to  all  the  other  good 
it  has  done  in  its  nearly  sixty  years  of  existence,  has  been  chiefly 
instrumental  in  starting  three  other  churches— the  Patterson 
Memorial,  the  Emmanuel  and  the  Greenway.  The  Clinton  Street 
Church,  once  such  a  tower  of  strength  in  this  city,  was  formed 
by  a  colony  of  choice  spirits  who  went  from  this  First  Church 
at  the  call  of  duty.  In  the  same  way  Calvary  was  started, 
which,  in  turn,  became  the  mother  of  churches  under  the 
leadership  of  such  men  as  Matthewr  Baldwin  and  John  A. 
Brown.  Olivet,  Tabor,  Hope,  and  Hermon  in  Fraukford,  are 
the  children  of  Calvary,  while  North  Broad  Street  and  Oxford 
were  greatly  aided  at  first  by  Mr.  Baldwin  and  others  once  mem- 
bers of  this  First  Church.  The  children  are  rising  up  to-day 
to  call  the  mother  blessed.  In  all  that  aggressive  period  of 
church  extension,  Albert  Barnes  was  the  leading  spirit.  For 
forty  years  Albert  Barnes  held  his  place  as  the  pastor  of  this 
foremost  Presbyterian  church  of  Philadelphia.  I  consider  it 
an  honor  to  have  enjoyed,  not  only  the  acquaintance,  but,  as  I 
believe,  the  friendship  of  Albert  Barnes.  It  was  my  privilege 
to  know  him  as  he  neared  the  setting  sun  in  the  calmness  and 
beauty  of  a  serene  old  age.  I  heard  much  of  Mr.  Barnes,  wThile 
a  student  in  Union  Seminary,  from  the  lips  of  his  old  friend, 
Dr.  Skinner,  who  was  our  teacher  of  homiletics.  Dr.  Skinner 
frequently  held  up  Albert  Barnes  to  us  as  a  model  pastor, 
preacher  and  Bible  student.     I  met  him  personally  for  the  first 


128  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

time  thirty-one  years  ago  last  spring,  when  I  came  to  Philadel- 
phia from  my  parish  in  Belvidere,  New  Jersey,  to  receive  ordi- 
nation from  the  Fourth  Presbytery,  to  which  Mr.  Barnes  and 
this  church  belonged.  His  old  friend  and  former  elder  in  this 
church,  Dr.  J.  Marshall  Paul,  was  my  friend  and  elder  in  Belvi- 
dere, and  through  him  we  were  introduced.  You  can  hardly 
imagine  my  surprise  when,  at  the  first  interview,  he  asked  me 
to  lecture  for  him  the  following  Wednesday  night.  Much  as  I 
shrank  from  attempting  to  say  anything  in  the  pulpit  of  such  a 
man,  he  would  not  take  no  for  an  answer;  and  hence  my  first 
sermon  in  Philadelphia  was  preached  in  the  lecture  room  of  this 
church  in  the  spring  of  18G7.  He  was  kind  enough  to  go  to 
Belvidere  at  my  installation  and  deliver  the  charge  to  the  pastor. 
When  I  came  to  Philadelphia,  thirty  years  ago,  he  had  just  re- 
signed his  pastorate,  and  I,  as  the  young  Moderator  of  the 
Fourth  Presbytery,  presided  at  the  installation  of  his  successor, 
Dr.  Herrick  Johnson,  and  propounded  the  constitutional  ques- 
tions. On  that  occasion,  Dr.  Z.  M.  Humphrey,  who  had  just 
been  installed  pastor  of  the  Calvary  Church,  preached  the  ser- 
mon, Albert  Barnes  gave  the  charge  to  the  pastor,  and  Dr.  Shep- 
ard  the  charge  to  the  people. 

After  Mr.  Barnes'  retirement  from  the  pastorate,  when  he 
made  West  Philadelphia  his  permanent  home,  he  and  his  family 
attended  the  Walnut  Street  Church,  and  during  the  two  remain- 
ing years  of  his  life  he  won  the  confidence  and  affection  of  our 
whole  people.  For  many  years  we  have  had  a  memorial  window 
in  our  church,  as  a  tribute  of  our  affection  to  this  man,  placed 
near  the  pew  where  he  was  accustomed  to  sit. 

When  I  consider  what  Albert  Barnes  did  for  this  First 
Church,  for  Presbytcrianism  in  Philadelphia  and  in  our  country, 
as  well  as  the  influence  of  his  writings  so  widely  felt,  I  rejoice 
that  this  people  have  erected  an  Albert  Barnes  Memorial  Build- 
ing, which  will  help  to  keep  his  name  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the 
generations  that  follow  him. 

I  close  as  I  began,  by  extending  to  this  people  the  heartiest 
congratulations  of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia  in  that  this 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  129 


old  mother  church  still  retains  such  a  vigorous  life  and  has 
within  it  such  possibilities  of  large  and  increasing  influence. 
We  rejoice  that  under  the  wise  leadership  of  your  beloved  pas- 
tor, Dr.  Baker,  you  have  addressed  yourselves  to  the  new  and 
changing  conditions  which  surround  you.  The  past  of  this 
noble  church  is  inspiring.  It  stirs  one's  blood  to  recall  what 
the  fathers  have  wrought.  But,  thank  God,  your  eyes  are 
toward  the  future.  Laurels  quickly  fade.  Yesterday,  with  its 
work  and  reward,  is  soon  gone ;  to-day  is  here,  and  to-morrow 
is  beckoning.  The  problems  of  the  hour  are  serious  and  urgent. 
In  the  solving  of  them,  we  count  upon  this  historic  church  to 
do  its  full  share.  As  you  move  into  the  twentieth  century,  it 
ought  to  be  with  a  quickened  pulse  and  with  a  stronger  faith, 
assured  that  larger,  better  things  are  still  in  store  for  you. 
After  another  century  shall  pass,  when  you  and  I  shall  be  known 
no  more  among  men,  God  grant  that  this  dear  old  church  shall 
stand  and  continue  to  stand  as  a  witness  for  the  truth  to  genera- 
tions now  unborn. 

Kev.  Herrick  Johnson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  read  by  request  a  minute 
adopted  by  the  Presbyterian  Ministers'  Association  of  Philadel- 
phia, conveying  to  the  church  hearty  congratulations  upon  its 
past  history  and  its  present  prosperity. 

PRAYER.— Rev.  Wallace  Radcliffe,  D.D. 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Thou  art  the  Master  whose  Ave  are  and 
whom  we  serve.  We  thank  Thee  for  that  great  multitude  here, 
who,  serving  Thee,  now  rest  from  their  labors  and  their  works 
do  follow  them.  We  rejoice  in  the  gladness  of  the  past.  Thou, 
who  dwellest  in  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire,  still  lead  here  Thy 
servants  unto  other  service  and  higher  achievement.  Send 
forth  Thy  light  and  Thy  truth.  Day  by  day  lead  them,  and  in 
the  end  crown  them  and  all  their  work  with  Thy  love  and  Thy 
glory,  to  the  praise  of  Thy  grace.     Amen. 

DOXOLOGY. 
9  BENEDICTION. 


WEDNESDAY  EVENING, 

NOVEMBER  16,  1898. 


PRAYER  BY  THE  PASTOR. 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  beseech  Thee  for 
Thy  presence  and  Thy  blessing  during  this  hour  of  praise.  May 
everything  be  begun  and  continued  and  ended  in  Thy  fear,  and 
may  all  the  words  of  our  months  and  all  the  meditation  of  our 
hearts  be  acceptable  in  Thy  sight,  O  Lord,  our  Strength  and  our 
Redeemer.     Amen. 

ANTHEM. — "  How  Lovely  are  Thy  Dwellings." 

PRAYER.— Rev.  Edward  B.  Hodge,  D.D., 

Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

O  Lord  God  Almighty,  who  art,  and  wast,  and  art  to  come, 
our  fathers'  God  and  our  God,  who  are  we  that  we  should 
approach  to  Thee  and  take  Thy  name  upon  our  lips  ?  We  are 
not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  goodness  and  truth  which  Thou 
hast  manifested  to  Thy  servants  from  the  beginning  even  unto 
this  hour.  Thou  hast  made  us  to  draw  near  to  Thee.  Thou  hast 
given  us  a  place  in  Thine  house.  Oh,  grant  unto  us  a  blessing  as 
we  now  come  with  our  song  of  grateful  love  and  our  expression 
of  gratitude  for  our  privileges.  Who  are  we  that  we  should  build 
a  house  to  Thy  name  ?  Who  are  we  that  we  should  be  permit- 
ted to  oifer  the  incense  of  prayer  and  praise  so  near  to  our  God? 
O  Lord,  we  thank  Thee,  and  praise  and  bless  Thee  for  all  that 
Thou  hast  accomplished  also  by  our  unworthy  instrumentality. 
Thus  it  pleaseth  Thee  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save 

131 


132  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

them  that  believe,  and  for  all  that  has  been  wrought  for  Thy 
name  in  this  place  we  bless  Thee  again  and  again  ;.  for  Thy  ser- 
vants who  have  ministered  here  in  the  days  that  are  gone,  for  all 
those  who  through  their  work  have  obtained  like  precious  faith 
with  us.  We  ask  that,  generation  after  generation,  if  it  please 
Thee,  Thy  name  may  still  be  great  in  this  place.  Oh,  help  us, 
on  this  anniversary  occasion,  to  obtain  for  ourselves  and  for  the 
city  where  we  dwell,  for  the  people  around  about  this  church  of 
Christ,  a  blessing,  rich  and  full  and  free;  a  blessing  for  our 
nation,  and  a  blessing  for  the  world.  Lord,  Thou  has  granted  to 
us  the  privilege  of  the  possession.  Write  in  Thy  book  the 
prayers  we  offer  to-night.  Grant  to  Thy  servant  who  in  the  suc- 
cession of  the  ministry  is  now  in  charge  of  this  church  of  Christ 
Thy  special  blessing.  May  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  be  upon 
him.  Anoint  him  to  preach  good  tidings  to  the  meek,  bind  up 
the  broken-hearted,  give  beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for 
mourning,  the  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness.  Make 
his  ministry  abundantly  fruitful.  Bless  all  the  organized  chari- 
ties of  the  church.  Bless  its  Sabbath-school,  and  grant  that  the 
young  may  be  trained  here  for  the  service  of  the  Saviour.  We 
thank  Thee  for  those  who  have  been  reared  up  in  this  church 
already  as  heralds  of  the  Cross  of  Christ,  to  preach  in  this  and  in 
foreign  lands  the  story  of  revealed  love.  Oh,  multiply  the  num- 
ber who  shall  go  forth  in  Christ's  name,  with  Christ's  message 
from  this  place,  and  grant  that  our  land,  by  reason  of  the  gospel 
preached  in  this  church  and  similar  churches  of  Christ  throughout 
our  borders,  may  be  kept  true  and  loyal  to  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ.  May  Christian  religion  and  Christian  morality 
characterize  our  national  existence.  Prepare  us  for  what  our 
destiny  may  be  in  Thy  providence,  and  grant  that  all  the  world 
may  soon  know  of  Christ  and  the  story  of  His  cross.  We  pray 
Thee  that  Thou  will  hasten  the  coming  of  Him  whom  we  love, 
and  grant  that  our  feeble  labors  may  be  instrumental  in  hastening 
the  day  when  it  shall  be  said  that  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
are  become  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  His  Christ.  This,  our 
hearty  thanksgiving  for  unspeakable  blessings  in  the  past ;  this, 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  133 


our  earnest  intercession  concerning  the  time  that  is  to  come, 
most  devoutly  and  earnestly  we  make  in  His  name  who  died 
for  us  and  rose  again;  to  whom,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  we  ascribe,  as  is  most  justly  due,  all  honor  and  might  and 
majesty  and  dominion,  world  without  end.     Amen. 


HYMN  225. 


THE  PASTOR. 


Vice  is  not  the  only  thing  in  this  world  that  seeks  company, 
thank  God.  Joy  seeks  company,  and  the  house  joy  filled  is, 
I  believe,  the  most  anxious  for  companionship.  When  the 
woman  had  found  her  lost  coin,  she  called  in  her  friends  and 
her  neighbors  to  rejoice  with  her.  This  is  a  time  of  rejoicing  for 
this  old  church.  Our  hearts  are  brimful  of  gladness  as  we  recount 
the  way  over  which  the  Lord  our  God  has  led  us  all  these  years, 
and  it  is  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  for  us  to  say  to  our 
friends  and  to  our  neighbors,  to  our  sister  churches :  "Come,  come 
to  our  altars  and  rejoice  with  us,  for  God  has  been  gracious  unto 
us."  We  yield  claim  of  priority  to  one  church  in  this  city  of 
ours.  Before  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized,  two  hun- 
dred years  ago,  Christ  Episcopal  Church  was  in  full  operation  of 
Christian  worship  and  service.  So  it  is  eminently  fitting  that  from 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  first  of  all,  we  should  have 
greetings,  as  we  ask  our  sister  churches  to  come  to  us  and  rejoice 
with  us.  We  are  honored  to-night  with  the  presence  of  the  Eight 
Kev.  Bishop  Whitaker,  and  I  take  unfeigned  pleasure  in  present- 
ing him  to  you. 

ADDRESS.— "Greetings  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church." 

The  Right  Rev.  O.  W.  Whitaker,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Pennsylvania. 

You  are  celebrating,  dear  brethren,  the  anniversary  of  a  very 
old  church,  and  I  take  pleasure  in  being  here  with  you  to  share 


134  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  ilie 

in  your  rejoicing  and  your  thanksgiving;.  But  the  term  "old," 
as  applied  to  a  church  or  anything  else,  is  a  relative  one.  When 
I  began  my  ministry  in  the  mining  town  of  Gold  Hill,  in 
Nevada,  in  1863,  before  the  end  of  the  second  year  we  had  built 
a  pretty  brick  church,  and  it  was  spoken  of  as  the  new  church, 
but  for  at  least  fifteen  years  past  that  has  been  spoken  of  in  that 
community  as  the  old  brick  church.  When  I  was  at  St.  Albans, 
in  Hertfordshire,  England,  a  year  ago  last  summer,  I  went  around 
the  walls  of  that  building  with  the  Bishop  of  St.  Albans,  and  I 
said,  "This  is  indeed  a  very  old  cathedral."  He  said,  "Part  of 
it  is,  and  part  of  it  is  new.  The  first  church  on  this  site  was 
erected  probably  in  the  fourth  century,  and  a  part  of  this  which 
you  now  see  was  probably  erected  in  the  sixth  century,  but  a 
great  deal  of  it  has  been  built  within  the  last  five  hundred  years." 
Old  and  new  are  relative  terms,  but  certainly  a  church  that  goes 
back  two  hundred  years  in  this  new  country  of  ours  may  properly 
be  called  old,  for  the  thought  of  its  beginning  carries  us  back  to 
the  time  when  Pennsylvania  began  to  be,  and  when  Philadelphia 
was  coming  into  existence,  and  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  or 
unprofitable  if  Ave  recall  a  little  of  those  beginnings. 

It  was,  I  think,  in  1617  that  some  Swedes  and  Finns  settled 
near  Cape  Henlopen,  and  gradually  extended  up  the  river,  until 
by  1637  they  had  taken  up  farms  close  up  to  the  junction  of  the 
Delaware  and  the  Schuylkill.  Others  joined  them,  and  they 
extended  further  north  and  west,  until  they  met  the  tide  of  the 
Dutch  that  was  flowing  over  from  New  Amsterdam  since  1609, 
and  there  Swedes  and  Dutch  contended  in  a  friendly  maimer  with 
each  other  for  the  occupation  of  the  soil.  But  the  English  soon 
came  in,  and  in  1655  the  Dutch  had  so  outnumbered  the  Swedes 
that  they  submitted  to  the  Dutch;  but  in  1664  the  English  were 
so  in  the  ascendency  that  the  Dutch  submitted  to  the  English,  and 
this  became  English  land.  It  was,  as  you  know,  in  1682  that 
William  Penn  came,  and  with  him  a  great  host  of  Quakers,  and 
then  this  became  a  Quaker  community.  So  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  determine,  in  1682  there  were  only  seventeen  hundred  people 
occupying  what  is  now  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  a  great  part 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  135 


of  those  were  Quakers,  and  in  1684,  although  ships  were  contin- 
ually coming  over,  bringing  their  loads  of  immigrants,  the  popu- 
lation of  Philadelphia  was  only  twenty-five  hundred. 

But  those  people,  Swedes  and  Dutch  and  English  and  Quakers, 
were  not  unmindful  of  a  superintending  Providence.  They  were 
not  forgetful  of  the  worship  in  which  they  had  been  educated, 
and  so  early  as  1627  there  was  a  building  erected  for  public  wor- 
ship at  Tinicum,  and  that  continued  to  be  used,  with  various 
alterations  and  modifications,  until  1700.  In  1677  there  was  a 
Swedish  house  of  worship,  out  of  which  has  come  Gloria  Dei  on 
Swanson  Street,  There  were  Quakers  in  Philadelphia  and  the 
neighborhood  before  Penn  came,  and  I  read  that  there  was  a 
Quaker  Meeting  House  in  Kensington  in  1681,  and  that  another 
was  built  in  1682,  and  another  in  1683,  and  another  in  1684,  and 
another  in  1685;  so  that  there  were  six  Quaker  houses  of  wor- 
ship before  there  was  built  Christ  Church,  or  before  this  sprang 
into  being.  Christ  Church  was  built,  the  first  church,  in  1695, 
but  there  are  many  churches  which  compete  for  priority  in  the  few 
years  which  followed.  Certainly  there  was  a  congregation  gath- 
ered at  St.  John's,  Concord,  which  used  the  prayer  book  in  its 
service  in  1698.  There  was  another,  St,  David's,  in  Radnor,  in 
which  the  same  form  of  worship  was  used.  There  was  yet  another 
at  Oxford,  nine  miles  then  from  Philadelphia,  but  now  within 
the  limits  of  the  city.  Certainly  within  a  very  few  years  of  that 
time,  and  probably  before  1700,  there  was  a  congregation  wor- 
shipping in  what  is  now  known  as  Lower  Providence  or  Evans- 
burg,  and  it  was  not  long  after,  certainly,  that  there  was  a  con- 
gregation gathered  for  public  worship  according  to  the  forms  of 
the  Church  of  England  near  Lancaster.  So  that  there  were,  out 
of  the  Welshmen,  and  out  of  the  Englishmen,  and  out  of  the 
courtesy  of  the  Quakers — for  I  like  to  mention,  as  I  have  recently 
on  another  occasion,  that  the  congregation  of  Episcopalians  at 
Oxford  received  its  first  place  of  worship  as  a  gift  from  the 
Quakers — it  was  out  of  these  small  beginnings  that  the  several 
churches  and  congregations  were  gathered  together. 

I  do  not  know  the  antecedents  of  the  gathering  of  this  congre- 


136  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

gation  which  two  hundred  years  ago  first  came  together  for  the 
worship  of  Almighty  God,  but  I  rejoice  to  believe  that  in  this 
church  from  the  very  beginning  there  has  been  a  continual 
preaching  of  repentance  towards  God  and  faith  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  I  rejoice  to  believe  that  the  successive  preachers 
of  this  church  might  have  taken  for  their  motto  the  first  line  of  the 
noble  hymn  which  we  have  just  sung,  "  In  the  Cross  of  Christ  I 
Glory."  I  rejoice  to  believe  that  the  pulpit  of  this  church  for 
two  hundred  years  has  given  forth  no  uncertain  sound  in  declar- 
ing the  great  central  truth  of  our  religion,  that  God  was  in  Christ, 
reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  and  therefore  it  is  that  I 
cherish  most  kindly  feelings  towards  this  church,  and  that  I 
count  it  one  of  my  privileges  to  number  among  my  friends  your 
pastor.  It  was  a  courtesy,  and  an  act  of  Christian  kindness  for 
which  I  shall  always  be  grateful,  that  when  I  came  to  this  city, 
twelve  years  ago,  one  of  your  clergy  invited  me  to  his  house, 
where  I  found  assembled  about  twenty  of  the  Presbyterian  clergy 
of  Philadelphia,  and  that  there  we  spent  a  couple  of  hours  in 
social,  Christian,  friendly  converse.  It  was  an  act  of  genuine 
Christian  hospitality,  and  it  touched  deeply  my  heart,  for  I  have 
always  felt  and  acted  upon  the  principle  declared  by  St.  Paul 
when  he  said,  "  Grace  be  with  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
in  sincerity."  There  is  a  bond  which  links  curiously  together 
Christ  Church  and  this  First  Presbyterian  Church.  Benjamin 
Franklin,  who  was  a  pew-holder  in  this  church  and  who  attended 
here  frequently,  was  also  an  attendant  at  Christ  Church,  and  was 
for  five  years  one  of  its  vestrymen.  Bishop  Stevens  and  Dr. 
Albert  Barnes  were  close  and  intimate  friends  while  they  exer- 
cised their  ministry  here  side  by  side,  Dr.  Barnes  in  this  church, 
and  Bishop  Stevens,  then  Dr.  Stevens,  rector  of  St.  Andrews,  on 
Eighth  Street.  There  has  been,  I  am  told,  during  the  past  two 
or  three  years,  an  increased  demand  for  Dr.  Barnes'  Commenta- 
ries, and  I  count  it  as  a  significant  sign  of  the  times  that  the 
minds  of  men  are  turning  back  to  such  a  style  of  commentary 
and  such. a  view  of  the  Scriptures  as  they  find  set  forth  in  those 
various  editions  of  his  commentaries  upon  the  different  books  of 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  137 


the  Bible,  some  of  which  I  have  read  with  great  interest,  and 
especially  what  I  think  was  his  last  book,  "  The  Evidences  of 
Christianity  in  the  Nineteenth  Century."  I  believe  that  the 
great  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  amongst 
men  is  owing  mainly  to  two  causes,  the  first  of  which  is  the 
unhappy  division  that  exists  among  Christians ;  and  the  second, 
the  failure  on  the  part  of  so  many  Christians  to  walk  answerable 
to  their  high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus ;  and  as  I  think  what  might 
be  if  all  who  hold  the  faith  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  were  of  one 
mind  and  one  heart,  and  if  all  who  profess  to  call  themselves 
Christians  were  striving  to  make  their  lives  a  reflection  in  spirit 
and  in  character  of  the  life  and  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  what  a  transformation  would  be  witnessed  in  the  world 
around  us ! 

When  Macaulay  came  back  from  India  he  said  that  he  was 
struck,  more  than  by  anything  else  in  the  religious  life  which  he 
witnessed  there,  by  the  nearness  of  men  of -different  ecclesiastical 
organizations  to  each  other  when  they  were  confronted  with  that 
immense  mass  of  heathenism  with  which  they  had  to  deal,  and 
he  said  that  in  a  country  where  men  worshipped  cows  the  distinc- 
tions which  separate  Christians  from  each  other  in  civilized  lands 
count  for  very  little.  We  do  not  live  in  a  community  or  in  a 
civilization  where  men  worship  cows,  but  are  there  not  changes 
as  threatening,  difficulties  as  great  to  be  overcome  in  the  unbelief, 
the  denial  of  Christ,  that  is  all  around  us ;  in  the  perversion  of 
doctrine ;  in  the  degrading  of  Christ  from  his  mediatorial  office ; 
in  the  failure  to  present  as  St.  Paul  presented  the  great  offering 
which  he  made  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world,  which  should 
call  for  a  union  in  heart  and  spirit  of  all  who  believe  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ?  When  I  think  of  the  unhappy  divisions  amongst 
Christians  who  all  have  to  bear  the  burdens  and  anxieties  of  a 
common  life,  I  am  reminded  of  those  words  of  Bishop  Home, 
when  he  said,  "As  I  view  the  separation  amongst  those  who  are 
followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  their  lack  of  sympathy 
one  with  another,  I  often  think  of  those  beautiful  and  affecting 
words    which    Milton  puts   into  the  mouth   of  Adam  when  he 


138  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

addresses  Eve :  '  Rise !  let  us  no  more  contend,  or  blame  each 
other,  blamed  enough  elsewhere,  but  strive  in  offices  of  love  how 
we  may  lighten  each  other's  burden  in  a  share  of  woe.' "  Enough 
has  been  done  for  the  arts  of  controversy.  Let  something  be  done 
for  piety  and  holy  living.  When  we  are  united  in  these,  then  our 
vision  may  be  clearer  to  be  united  in  all  things.  God  will  reveal 
even  that  to  us  when  we  are  prepared  to  receive  it,  and  it  will  be  re- 
vealed to  us.  It  may  not  be  in  this  life,  but  it  will  surely  be  in  that 
world  of  light  where  the  peacemakers  shall  receive  the  fullness  of 
their  beatitude,  and  where  all  who  pray  that  they  may  be  one  in 
spirit  shall  indeed  be  one  with  each  other  and  with  our  Lord  in 
the  unity  of  his  eternal  and  glorious  kingdom.     Amen. 

THE  PASTOR. 

It  is  the  righteously  proud,  and  at  the  same  time  thankful 
boast  of  this  First  Presbyterian  Church,  that  it  has  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  building  of  the  great  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, whose  fame  now  is  world-wide.  I  told  you  on  Monday 
evening  that  when  at  one  time  in  its  history  this  church  was 
houseless,  the  University  very  courteously  offered  the  use  of  its 
hall  for  the  worship  of  the  congregation.  In  course  of  time  this 
church  was  permitted  to  serve  the  University  in  the  persons  of 
two  of  its  pastors,  one  of  whom  was  the  vice-provost  and  the 
other  provost  of  the  University.  Provost  Harrison,  knowing 
how  the  life  of  this  church  has  touched  the  life  of  the  University, 
has  most  kindly  consented  to  come  here  to-night  and  say  a  word 
to  us,  and  I  am  exceedingly  happy  to  present  him  to  you. 

ADDRESS. — "Greetings  of  the  University  op  Pennsylvania." 
Charles  C.  Harrison,  LL.D., 

Provost  of  the  University. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  represent  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  on  this  occasion  ;  for,  apart  from  the  fact  that  this 
church  and  the  University  ma}-   be  classed   as  among  the  old 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  139 

institutions  of  our  city,  and  for  more  than  one  hundred  years 
were  very  near  neighbors  in  point  of  locality,  there  have  been 
strong  personal  ties  to  unite  them  in  a  certain  kind  of  fellowship 
which  ought  not  to  be  forgotten.  You  are  probably  all  aware 
that  the  University  had  several  stages  in  its  evolution  to  the 
present  institution.  It  was  first  the  "  Charity  School  of  Phila- 
delphia "  ;  then,  when  Franklin  took  up  the  work,  the  "  Academy 
and  Charitable  Schools  "  ;  very  soon  the  "  College,  Academy  and 
Charitable  School";  then  "The  University  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,"  co-existent  with  the  preceding,  and  finally,  by  a 
union  of  the  two  -latter,  "  The  University  of  Pennsylvania." 
Just  at  the  point  in  this  development  when  the  institution 
reached  academic  grade,  in  1752,  we  find  the  pastor  of  this 
church  called  upon  to  fill  the  responsible  chair  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  Languages.  As  soon  as  its  charter  as  a  college  was  attained, 
he  was,  in  addition,  charged  with  the  executive  duties  of  vice- 
provost,  and  in  1756  he  was  advanced,  with  advancing  courses 
of  study,  to  the  chair  of  Higher  Classics  and  Metaphysics,  which 
he  retained  until  his  death,  in  1779.  That  the  Rev.  Francis 
Alison  worthily  maintained  the  traditions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  favor  of  a  learned  ministry  is  evident  from  the  char- 
acter and  scope  of  the  work  assigned  to  him  during  these  twenty- 
seven  years  of  service,  under  the  critical  eyes  of  a  Board  of 
Trustees  including  the  most  intellectual  men  of  the  province, 
and  in  such  subjects  as  the  classics  and  metaphysics.  Like 
Samuel's,  his  sons  walked  among  you  to  his  honor.  In  these 
days,  when  so  many  Philadelphians  persist  in  sending  their  sons 
away  from  home  for  a  college  training,  it  is  pleasant  to  look 
back  on  the  records  and  find  three  stalwart  sons  taking  their  de- 
grees in  their  father's  college,  and  then  going  forth  to  the  active 
service  of  their  country  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  Benja- 
min and  Francis  Alison  both  served  as  surgeons  in  the  Conti- 
nental Army.  Of  their  cousins,  Hector  received  one  of  our  first 
honorary  degrees,  and  was  chaplain  of  one  of  the  Pennsylvania 
troops ;  Robert  was  a  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  First  Pennsyl- 
vania Battalion,  and  Patrick  was  one  of  the  chaplains  of  the 


140  Bi-centeanial  Celebration  of  the 

Continental  Congress.  They  were  of  sturdy  stock,  these  Ali- 
sons, and  I  think  that  the  church  on  Market  Street  and  the  col- 
lege at  Fourth  and  Arch  were  the  stronger  for  them,  and  spiritu- 
ally and  intellectually  helped  to  strengthen  them. 

By  no  means  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  purely  on  account  of 
fitness,  the  relations  of  this  church  to  the  University  were 
cemented  when,  in  1758,  the  Rev.  John  Ewing,  a  year  before 
becoming  your  pastor,  was  elected  pro  tempore  professor  of 
ethics;  in  1762,  professor  of  natural  philosophy,  and  in  1780, 
provost — the  first  to  hold  that  title  as  of  the  University.  It  has 
been  said  of  Dr.  Ewing  that  in  mathematics  and  astronomy,  in 
Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  in  metaphysics  and  moral  philosophy, 
he  was  probably  the  most  accomplished  man  in  the  United 
States.  The  University  of  Edinburgh  gave  him  the  degree  of 
"  D.D. " ;  and  there  is  a  good  story  told  of  his  visit  to  England 
at  that  time  and  of  his  interview  with  the  celebrated  Dr.  John- 
son. Dr.  Johnson  was  exceedingly  rude  and  bitter  in  his  re- 
marks about  the  colonists,  saving,  at  length,  "  Sir,  what  do  you 
know  in  America?  You  never  read.  You  have  no  books 
there."  "  Pardon  me,  sir,"  said  Dr.  Ewing ;  "  we  have  read  the 
"  '  Rambler.'  "  The  soft  answer  of  your  pastor  turned  the 
wrath  of  the  irascible  Johnson  into  the  most  cordial  civility  for 
the  rest  of  the  visit.  Until  his  death,  in  1802,  the  church  and 
University  shared  in  the  happy  possession  of  this  gifted  man, 
and  for  a  part  of  that  time  he  was  also,  as  your  pastor,  ex-ojieio 
a  trustee  of  the  University.  His  four  sons  also  grew  up  among 
you,  were  graduated  with  us,  and,  in  after  life,  filled  honorable 
and  useful  places  in  their  native  city. 

Others  of  your  pastors  were  known  and  honored  by  the  Uni- 
versity. Dr.  Ewing  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  John  Blair  Linn, 
whom  death  removed  so  soon  from  among  you ;  but  during  his 
brief  pastorate  he  received  from  us  the  doctorate  of  divinity. 
His  successor,  the  Rev.  James  Patrick  Wilson,  was  an  alumnus 
of  1788,  and  so  esteemed  as  an  under-graduate  that  he  was  at 
once,  on  graduation,  offered  the  post  of  assistant  professor  of 
mathematics,  which  he  declined.     His  son,  of  the  same  name, 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  141 

was  graduated  with  us  in  1826,  while  his  father  was  still  your 
pastor,  and  followed  in  his  father's  steps  to  high  honor  in  the 
ministry,  both  of  the  Wilsons  receiving  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
divinity  from  their  alma  mater. 

Your  some-time  ruling  elder,  Charles  Thomson,  was  a  tutor 
in  our  college  at  its  beginning.  He  became  secretary  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  in  1784  the  trustees  gave  him  the 
doctorate  of  laws,  which,  the  year  before,  they  had  given  to 
George  Washington,  and  for  the  same  grateful  and  patriotic 
reason.  And  I  think  that  another  of  your  elders  in  Revolution- 
ary days,  Dr.  Benjamin  Williamson,  was  a  student  in  our  young 
medical  department. 

I  would  not  have  time  nor  space  to  enumerate  the  personal 
bonds  between  the  two  bodies,  found  in  the  faculty  and  students 
in  their  relations  for  nearly  one  hundred  and  sixty  years,  but  will 
dwell  for  a  moment  on  one  of  more  recent  times.  In  1834  the 
Rev.  Albert  Barnes  was  elected  a  trustee  of  the  University,  and 
for  thirty-six  years  was  a  most  honored  and  useful  member  of 
that  body.  I  think  that  his  trusteeship  was  almost  coeval  with 
his  pastorate,  and  that  he  was  equally  esteemed  and  influential 
in  either  position.  He  was  a  vigorous  opponent  of  Episcopacy, 
but  in  the  service  of  the  University  he  was  the  cordial  friend  of 
and  co-worker  with  Bishops  Potter  and  Stevens,  and  it  was  the 
latter  who  pronounced  at  his  death  a  most  eloquent  and  affection- 
ate tribute  to  his  virtues  and  his  labors. 

Some  of  our  lay  trustees  were  active  in  the  affairs  of  this 
church  in  its  earlier  years.  Franklin  belouged  to  no  denomina- 
tion, but  averred  it  to  be  his  duty  to  help  all  so  far  as  he  could, 
and  for  some  years  was  a  pew-holder  here.  Chief  Justice  and 
Governor  Thomas  McKean,  Chief  Justice  Shippen  and  Governor 
William  Allen,  all  active  in  the  church,  were  conspicuous  trustees 
in  the  University,  and  it  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  the  many 
individuals  whose  spiritual  life  was  fostered  here,  while  their 
intellectual  life  was  upbuilding  at  the  University.  * 

I  have  recalled  these  historical  matters  with  a  two-fold  pur- 
pose :     First,  to  show  that  the  University  is  not  out  of  place  in 


142  Bi-ecntennial  Celebration  of  the 

this  celebration,  but  that  it  has  had  all  along  such  strong  personal 
ties  to  unite  it  to  this  congregation  as  fully  to  justify  a  cordial 
greeting  and  warm  congratulations.  And  my  second  purpose  is, 
to  plead  for  a  continuance  of  these  friendly  relations.  The 
University  has  never  had,  and  we  hope  will  never  have,  a  theo- 
logical department.  It  is  the  University's  function  to  minister 
to  the  intellectual  and  moral  part  of  man,  but  not  to  invade  that 
spiritual  province  which  has  been  divinely  committed  to  the 
Church.  The  spheres  are  not  antagonistic,  but  mutually  helpful. 
The  Presbyterian  Church  has  insisted  always  on  the  highest 
standards  of  clerical  and  popular  education.  The  universities 
have  found  among  its  ministers  and  members  many  of  their 
staunchest  advocates  and  most  munificent  supporters.  And  to- 
night, as  a  University  officer,  and  in  the  name  of  the  University, 
I  extend  hearty  and  fraternal  congratulations  to  this  corporation 
which  so  honorably  completes  its  second  century,  and  our  sincere 
prayers  for  the  divine  blessing  on  the  third,  now  opening  so 
auspiciously  before  it.  And  I  ask  that  the  pastors  and  people 
of  this  church  may  always  count  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
as  in  a  certain  ex-ojficio  and  ex-rclatione  way  its  friend  ;  that  for 
all  time  they  may  mutually  share  in  felicitations  on  each  other's 
prosperity. 


THE  PASTOR. 

It  has  been  thought  that  it  would  not  be  amiss,  but  on  the  other 
hand  entirely  appropriate,  that  at  these  gatherings  throughout  the 
week  an  opportunity  should  be  given  to  those  who  were  present 
to  give  offerings  for  the  enlargement  of  our  endowment  fund.  In 
order  that  this  church,  and  churches  similarly  situated,  may  go 
on  and  do  their  God-appointed  work  in  the  years  to  come,  with 
the  changing  conditions  in  which  they  are  placed,  an  endowment 
fund,  and  a  liberal  one,  is  imperatively  required ;  and  so  to-night 
we  will  ask  for  an  offering,  not  wishing  to  be  importunate,  but 
simply  feeling  that  in  the  good  providence  of  God  there  may  be 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  143 

those  who  shall  be  prompted  of  Him  to  help  us  in  this  work  in 
which  Ave  are  engaged.     The  offering  will  now  be  made. 

ANTHEM.— "The  Magnificat." 

THE  PASTOR. 

Several  months  ago  I  asked  Bishop  Foss  if  he  would  honor  us 
with  his  presence  to-night,  and  convey  to  us  the  greetings  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  promised  to  do  so,  and  fully 
intended  to  do  so,  but  a  short  time  ago  a  demand  was  made  upon 
him  to  go  out  of  the  city  to  perform  a  certain  duty,  and  he  felt 
that  he  ought  to  do  so.  Consequently  we  have  not  the  pleasure 
of  having  Bishop  Foss  with  us  to-night.  He  bade  me,  however, 
convey  to  you  his  personal  greeting,  and  to  say  how  much  he 
regretted  that  he  must  be  absent,  and  then  he  further  bade  me 
ask  Dr.  MacMullen  to  take  his  place  and  give  the  greetings  of 
his  church.  I  am  sure  that  we  are  all  glad  to-night  for  this  priv- 
ilege of  hearing  Dr.  MacMullen.  I  cannot  introduce  him  to  you 
to-night  as  Bishop  MacMullen.  Perhaps  that  may  come  later. 
At  any  rate  he  is  welcome  within  our  gates,  and  he  knows  full 
well  that  the  church  of  which  he  is  an  honored  pastor  has  the 
highest  respect  and  the  truest  love  always  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church. 

ADDEESS. — "Greetings  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church." 
Eev.  Wallace  MacMullen,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  the  Park  Avenue  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Philadelphia. 

I  certainly  feel  grateful  to  Bishop  Foss  for  his  suggestion  to 
Dr.  Baker,  for  I  count  it  a  high  honor  to  be  allowed  to  stand  on 
this  historic,  consecrated  spot  on  this  most  notable  occasion,  as 
the  representative  of  my  church.  I  feel  that  in  bringing  you  our 
greetings  I  ought  to  speak  our  word  of  gratitude  for  certain  things 
that  we  feel  indebted  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  for,  and,  first 
of    all,  to   acknowledge   the   indebtedness   of   contact.      When 


144  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

Thomas  Coke,  a  man  almost  as  abundant  in  missionary  labors  as 
the  Apostle  Paul,  was  in  his  early  manhood  in  Oxford,  he  was 
tainted  with  the  prevailing  skepticism  of  his  day,  and  he  had 
created  within  him  a  great  longing  for  a  spiritual  life  by  reading  the 
work  of  your  Dr.  Witherspoon  on  "Regeneration;"  so  that  great 
man  of  yours,  who  was  so  prominent  in  helping  mould  our 
national  destiny  in  its  beginning,  and  was  influential  in  giving 
final  ecclesiastical  form  to  your  Presbyterian  body  in  this  country, 
left  his  vital  touch  upon  our  first  bishop — a  man  who  brought  to 
a  consummation  the  organization  of  our  church. 

Then  I  want  to  acknowledge  also  the  indebtedness  of  antago- 
nism. We  Methodists  and  you  Presbyterians  had  some  very 
exhilarating  debates  in  the  good  old  years  that  have  given  place 
to  these  better  years  of  blessed  brotherhood.  Friction  is  one  of 
the  processes  for  the  generation  of  heat,  and  while  it  is  quite  true 
that  heat  may  be  dissipated  and  so  not  be  available  for  practical 
uses,  nevertheless  I  think  the  heat  that  was  generated  in  this 
exceedingly  warm  controversy  has  been  at  least  partly  transformed 
into  enduring  forms  of  energy.  I  think,  in  the  first  place,  some 
of  our  good  old  Methodist  fathers  got  a  little  more  intellectual 
muscle  because  of  the  battle  they  were  compelled  to  do  for  the 
truth  as  it  appealed  to  them.  Brave,  crippled  old  Epictetus  said 
that  God  sometimes  matched  men  with  rough  circumstances  as 
wrestlers  with  them,  that  by  means  of  the  wrestle  they  might 
become  conquerors.  God  in  his  providence  matched  some  of  our 
Methodist  fathers  with  some  Presbyterian  giants,  and  I  think 
there  came  a  good  deal  of  additional  intellectual  fibre  to  those 
who  bejmn  the  work  of  our  church  in  this  land  and  else- 
where,  and  that  it  was  partly  by  reason  of  that  that  they  were 
mightily  able  to  extend  the  borders  of  the  common  God  and  win 
souls  into  his  flesh.  Moreover,  I  am  sure  this  is  true :  that  by 
reason  of  that  intellectual,  bloodless  warfare,  that  by  very  reason 
of  it  and  not  in  spite  of  it,  we  were  able  a  little  better  to  cherish 
the  truth  that  seemed  specially  dear  to  us.  That  very  bit  of 
truth  for  which  wTe  stood,  not  as  monopolists  of  it  at  all,  but  as 
champions  of  it  for  a  time — the  democracy  of  the  human  soul  in 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  145 

the  republic  of  God,  the  freedom  of  men — I  think  that  our  his- 
torical emphasis  upon  it  was  simply  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of 
the  age  in  which  we  had  our  birth.  Liberty  was  the  impulse  that 
was  moving  human  hearts  everywhere,  here  in  our  American  col- 
onies, over  there  in  England  and  in  France,  where  the  writings 
of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  and  their  predecessors  had  done  much 
to  open  men's  eyes  to  the  evils  of  despotism ;  the  liberty  that  had 
its  initial  impulse  in  Martin  Luther  when  he  wielded  his  Thor's 
hammer  in  nailing-  that  thesis  of  his  ag-ainst  the  Wittenberg; 
church  door.  Now,  I  am  perfectly  sure  that  by  reason  of  the 
battle  we  offered  in  behalf  of  that  bit  of  God's  total  truth,  we 
were  enabled  to  get  it  into  a  little  clearer  view  and  get  a  firmer 
grip  upon  it ;  for  it  is  certainly  true  in  the  measure  that  we  do 
battle  for  things  dear  to  us  that  we  are  enabled  to  separate  them  from 
other  surrounding  and  associated  truths,  isolate  them,  as  it  were, 
so  we  are  better  able  to  tell  their  size  and  appreciate  their  preci- 
oiisness,  and  I  am  perfectly  certain  of  this:  that  in  the  theological 
antagonism  of  those  years  we  were  enriched,  as  all  the  world  has 
been,  by  your  splendid  emphasis  upon  that  truth  of  the  sover- 
eignty of  God — perfectly  sure  of  it.  It  is  not  easy  to  hear  sweet 
songs  when  we  are  in  the  darkness  of  black  night.  It  is  not 
easy  to  sing  the  praises  of  God  with  one's  feet  in  the  stocks,  as 
Paul  did.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  the  flowers  of  JBeulah  and  the 
towers  of  the  Celestial  City  when  one  is  in  prison.  Bunyan  did. 
It  is  not  easy  to  hang  outstretched  upon  the  cross  and  see  the 
open  arms  of  the  dear  God  waiting  to  receive  the  failing  spirit. 
Jesus  did.  It  is  not  easy  to  look  back  through  our  human  his- 
tory, and  think  of  the  wars  that  have  cursed  it,  and  of  the 
rumors  of  wars  with  which  still  it  is  full ;  it  is  not  easy  to  look 
upon  those  things  and  still  keep  steady  and  peaceful,  and  the  way 
to  be  able  to  do  it  is  to  have  a  tremendous  grip  upon  this  truth 
of  the  supremacy  of  the  God  of  love.  I  thank  the  Presbyter- 
ian Church  for  its  tremendous,  splendid  emphasis  upon  that 
blessed,  comforting  truth  of  the  sovereignty  of  God.  And  now 
I  bring  unto  you  our  hearty  congratulations  upon  the  termina- 
tion of  these  generations  of  church  life.  How  much  that  life 
10 


146  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

has  meant  to  multitudes  of  souls !  Carlyle  said  that  one  of  the 
enduring  symbols  of  men,  for  which  they  are  glad  to  do  battle, 
is  the  Church.  When  one  had  a  church,  he  said,  what  one  could 
really  call  a  church,  then,  though  he  were  in  the  conflux  of  the 
immensities  and  the  centre  of  the  eternities,  he  could  stand  man- 
like towards  God  and  man.  The  vague,  formless  universe  became 
for  him  a  firm  city  and  dwelling  which  he  knew.  Such  virtue  was 
in  those  words,  well  spoken,  I  believe,  "Well  might  men  praise 
their  credo  and  raise  for  it  stateliest  temples  and  reverent  hierarchs, 
and  give  them  the  tithing  of  their  substance.  It  was  something 
worth  living  for  and  worth  dying  for." 

When  I  think  of  the  unnumbered  souls  that  have  been  kept 
steady  in  their  faith  through  these  two  hundred  years  by  the  life 
and  ministry  of  this  church,  the  steadiness  that  it  has  helped  to 
give  the  community  in  which  it  was  put,  I  thank  God  anew  for 
the  church.  What  have  been  the  elements  that  have  helped  on 
your  perpetuity,  the  duration  of  your  church  life?  I  have  not 
any  doubt  that  one  element — and  you  will  not  think  it  strange 
that  it  impresses  me  very  much — has  been  lengthened  leadership. 
It  is  not  strange  that  I,  with  my  knowledge  of  limited  pastorates, 
should  be  impressed  by  the  fact  that  you  only  had  seven  pastors 
between  1702  and  1870.  I  am  glad  that  you  have  been  wise 
enough  to  allow  a  congregation  to  grow  up  by  the  natural  laws  of 
growth  around  the  leadership  of  consecrated  personalities.  I 
profoundly  wish  I  could  put  that  in  among  the  causes  of  our 
thanksgiving  as  Methodists  to  you  Presbyterians.  I  cannot  just 
now.  I  believe  if  we  live  long  enough  I  shall  have  that  thing 
to  be  thankful  for,  that  the  time  is  coming  when,  along  with  the 
virtues  of  our  system — and  they  are  not  few,  by  any  means — that, 
instead  of  appointment  from  year  to  year,  we  shall  have  possible 
the  indefinite  continuance  of  that  sort  of  arrangement  that  shall 
not  be  interrupted  by  the  almanac,  which  many  times  is  simply 
mechanical  and  therefore  an  impertinent  interference  with  vital 
processes,  and  that  we  shall  allow  those  things  to  be  decided  by 
the  fitness  of  things  in  the  providence  of  God.  I  think  it  is 
coming,  and  1  have  not  any  doubt  that  is  one  of  the  element,-; 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  147 

that  have  contributed  to  your  strength  in  these  centuries.  I 
know  another  one  was  your  energy,  and  if  we  may  be  allowed  to 
judge  the  past  by  the  evidence  of  the  present,  it  has  been  an 
energy  that  has  been  adaptive.     You  have  learned  that 

"  New  occasions  teach  new  duties ; 

Time  makes  ancient  good  uncouth  ; 
They  must  upward  still  and  onward 

Who  would  keep  abreast  of  truth. 
Lo  I  before  us  gleam  her  camp-fires  ; 

We  ourselves  must  Pilgrims  be, 
Launch  our  Mayflower  and  steer  boldly 

Through  the  desperate,  wintry  sea  ; 
Nor  attempt  the  Future's  portals 

With  the  Past's  blood-rusted  key." 

You  have  not  attempted  it.  You  have  had  energy  that  was 
adaptive.  You  have  been  emptied  from  vessel  to  vessel,  from 
sanctuary  to  sanctuary;  so  you  have  been  saved  from  that 
temptation  to  which  Moab  yielded,  of  settling  upon  your  lees. 
The  wine  of  your  church  life  has  been  made  purer,  sweeter 
and  richer  by  reason  of  the  changes  that  have  been  forced  upon 
you  by  changing  conditions.  You  have  comparatively  recent]}' 
decided  you  would  not  run  awav  from  a  neighborhood  that 
needed  you,  and  you  have  adopted  this  necessary  plan  to  provide 
financially  against  the  dangers  of  fluctuating  populations. 

I  say  that  an  adaptive  energy  has  been  one  of  the  reasons  for 
your  success  and  your  lengthened  life,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that 
another  element— and  I  think  that  is  more  important — has  been 
feeling.  You  have  heard  one  of  your  speakers  talk  about  your 
pulpit  during  these  two  centuries.  You  have  not  had  anybody 
talk  about  the  pew.  Those  are  things  that  elude  investigation, 
that  could  not  be  tabulated — the  forces  that  have  been  residing;  in 
these  pews  and  the  pews  of  the  sanctuaries  that  preceded  this  one. 
You  could  not  put  those  things  into  speech  or  print,  and  yet 
churches  to-day,  and  in  all  days,  need  winning  pulpits  no  more 
than  they  need  winning  and  holding  pews.  The  men  and  women 
of  heart,  out  through  whose  finger-tips  there  steals  some  of  tin' 


148  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

energy  of  the  great  God,  out  through  whose  eyes  there  flashes 
some  of  the  light  gained  at  the  altar  of  God,  in  the  home 
and  in  the  church — I  am  perfectly  certain  that  you  have  that  sort 
of  winning  feeling  hi  these  pews  of  yours.  You  never  could 
have  lived  so  long  without  it.  It  is  not  true  that  intellectual 
brilliancy  in  the  pulpit  and  business  sagacity  in  the  pew  are  the 
most  important  things  making  up  the  equipment  of  a  church.  It 
is  not  that.  It  is  rather  heart  in  both  places  that  has  a  premium 
in  the  markets  of  the  world  to-day.  It  is  that  which  wins  men's 
allegiance,  hooks  them  to  us  by  hooks  of  steel,  speaks  God 
through  us  and  unites  them  to  Him.  That  is  the  spiritually  needed 
thing.  The  worldlings  may  not  admit  it,  those  whose  standards 
of  manhood  are  all  false,  those  who  prefer  to  deal  more  with 
the  glitter  of  life  than  with  its  gold,  but  there  are  noble  souls 
everywhere  who  infallibly  feel  the  presence  of  soul,  and  yield  to 
its  magnetism  as  certainly  as  the  heavenly  bodies  attract  one 
another,  and  they  are  drawn  in  precise  measure  with  the  meas- 
urement of  the  soul  that  comes  near;  and  one  thing  that  has 
been  spiritually  useful,  I  have  no  doubt,  in  both  pulpit  and  pew 
has  been  feeling  given  over  to  the  service  of  God. 

May  God  bless  you  in  the  new  century  into  which  you  go,  and 
give  you  still  larger  life.  I  think  that  to  the  Church,  just  as 
certainly  as  to  single  souls,  we  may  say  in  Holmes'  words  : 

"  Build  thee  more  stately  mansions,  O,  my  soul, 
As  the  swift  seasons  roll. 
Leave  thy  low-vaulted  past ; 
Let  each  new  temple,  nobler  than  the  last, 
Shut  thee  from  heaven  with  a  dome  more  vast, 
Till  thou  at  length  art  free, 
Leaving  thine  outgrown  shell  by  life's  unresting  sea." 

God  gave  you  work  as  a  church  to  help  in  this  nation  in  those 
formative,  colonial  days,  and  he  gave  you  work  to  do  in  those 
strenuous  birth-throes  of  the  Revolution  in  those  times,  and  he 
is  a  helping  God,  and  surely  with  the  vigor  of  this  new  and 
mightiest  of  the  nations  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  this  Colossus  of 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  149 


the  West,  your  work  is  not  done  yet.  In  the  city— which  is  indeed 
the  storm  centre  and  nerve  centre,  too,  of  our  population  in  our 
modern  civilized  life — he  gives  you  work  to  do.     I  cannot  with- 
hold my  own  personal  tribute  to  your  pastor,  Dr.  Baker,  and  to 
your  superintendent,  Mr.  George  Griffiths,  the  one  for  his  able 
presidency  and  the  other  for  the  origin  of  the  Christian  League, 
which  has  been  so  useful  in  curing  one  of  the  worst  plague  spots 
of  our  city,  and  putting  upon  a  firm  basis  Christian  work  among 
the  Chinese  in  our  midst.    The  Lord  bless  your  pastor  and  pros- 
per that  work   exceedingly.     You  have  more  work  to  do,  and 
God  will  give  you  grace  and  strength  to  do  it.     Depending  upon 
him,  not  disposed  to  be  plethoric  with  the  wealth  that  has  come 
in  the  past  years,  not  disposed  to  say  to  your  corporate  soul, 
"Soul,  eat,  drink  and  be  merry;  thou  hast  much  religious  and 
ecclesiastical  goods  laid  up  for  many  years  " — not  that  sort  of 
thing  at  all,  but  just  because  God  has  been  so  good  to  you  as  a 
people,  to  put  at  his  disposal  all  the  energy  which  he  begun  and 
has  fostered,  to  do  still  better  service  for  him  and  men— not  to 
rest  upon  what  your  fathers  did.     "It  is  as  easy  to  be  heroes  as 
to  sit  the  idle  slaves  of  the  legendary  virtues  carved  upon  our 
fathers'  graves.     They  were  men  of  present  valor,  stalwart  old 
iconoclasts,  unconvinced  by  axe  or  gibbet  that  all  virtues  have 
passed.     But  we  make  their  truth  our  falsehood,  thinking  that 
hath  made  us  free;  hoarding  it  in  moulding  apartments,  while 
our  tender  spirits  flee  the  rude  grasp  of  that  great  impulse  which 
drove  them  across  the  sea." 

You  will  not  do  that.  You  will  remember  "  new  occasions 
teach  new  duties."  You  will  find  in  some  new  cause  God's  new 
message  offering  you  the  bloom  or  blight,  and  you  will  choose 
the  one  and  work  well  for  him.  May  the  blessing  of  the 
Almighty,  which  makes  rich  and  adds  no  sorrow,  be  upon  you  in 
abundant  measure  forever  !     Amen. 


DOXOLOGY. 
BENEDICTION. 


THURSDAY  EVENING, 

NOVEMBER  17,  1898. 


THE  PASTOR. 


Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  grant  to  us,  we  beseech 
Thee,  in  this  service,  Thy  blessing.  We  are  gathered  here  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  we  pray  Thee  that  we  may  have 
in  our  hearts  the  assurance  that  we  are  truly  worshipping  Thee 
in  spirit  and  in  truth.  And  unto  Thy  name,  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Spirit,  shall  be  the  praise.     Amen. 

ANTHEM.— "O  Lord,  Our  Governor."— Gadsby. 

PRAYER.— Rev.  J.  Sparhawk  Jones,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  Calvary  Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia. 

Almighty  and  ever-living  God,  Thou  art  the  confidence  of  all 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  Thou  art  our  confidence,  and  hast  been 
the  confidence  of  the  fathers  who  have  laid  the  foundation  to 
that  upon  which  we  build,  and  who  have  prepared  the  way  for 
us  who  now  enter  into  their  labors.  O  God,  we  bless  Thee  for 
the  way  in  which  Thou  hast  led  the  world.  Thou  leadest  Joseph 
•like  a  flock.  Thou  art  the  Father  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh. 
Thou  hast  always  had  a  people  in  the  world  to  serve  Thee,  those 
who  have  not  bowed  to  Baal.  We  bless  Thy  great  name  that 
Thou  hast  set  eternity  in  man's  heart,  that  Thou  hast  given  him 
a  vast  capacity  for  reverence,  for  faith,  for  joy,  for  hope,  for 
thanksgiving,  and  that  he  has  gone  forth  to  build  temples  and 
found  worship  in  Thy  name,  and  that  always  Thou  hast  had  a 

151 


152  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

people  to  serve  Thee,  a  church  in  the  wilderness,  a  church  in 
Israel,  a  church  in  the  New  Testament,  a  church  that  has  come 
down  from  age  to  age,  and   which   Thou   art   prospering,  and 
against  which  Thou  hast  said  the  gates  of  Hades  shall  not  pre- 
vail.    We  bless  Thee,  O   God,  for  Thy  great  promises,  for  Thy 
great  work,  for  all  Thou   hast  done  for  the  world  that  lies  in 
wickedness,  and  we  pray  Thee  that  Thy  work  may  prosper,  that 
Thy  word  may  be  mighty  and  may  prevail.     Do  Thou   bow  the 
heavens  and  come  down.     Do  Thou  baptize  the   nations.     Do 
Thou  hasten  that  day,  Almighty  God,  when  He  who  sits  upon 
the  white  horse,  whose  name  is  Faithful  and  True,  whose  ves- 
ture   is    dipped    in  blood,    upon  whose  head  are  many   crowns 
and  in  whose  hand  is  a  sword,  may  go  forth,  conquering  and  to 
conquer.     Accomplish  the  number  of  Thine  elect,  hasten  Thy 
kingdom,  O  God,  which  was  foreseen  and  has  been  foreseen  in 
vision  and  dream  and  in  prescience  by  holy  men  of  old  who  spoke 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Hply   Ghost,  and  grant  that  Thy 
kingdom  may  come  and  that  Thy  will   may  be  done  in  earth  as 
it  is  in  heaven.     We  bless  Thee  for  this  particular  society.     We 
bless  Thee  for  the  founding  of  this  church.     We  bless  Thee  for 
the  long  line  of  able  ministers  of  the  New  Testament  who  have 
expounded  the  gospel  of  eternal  life   in   this   place.      We  bless 
Thee  for  all  that  has  been  attempted  and   accomplished   in  Thy 
name,  and  we  pray  Thee  that  this  church  may  still   remain  as  a 
city  set  upon  a  hill  that  cannot  be  hid.     Do  Thou  grant  that  all 
Thy  servants  who  are  here  concerned  in  the  upbuilding  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  may  be  abundantly  blessed  and  prospered.    Let 
their  shoes  be  of  iron  and  brass,  and  as  their  day,  so  let  their 
strength  be.     We  pray  Thee  that  this  church  may  in  the  future, 
as  in  times  past,  cast  out  a  wholesome,   healing  and   comforting 
ray  in  this  dark  world,  bringing  in   the   losf,  perishing,  forlorn 
and  miserable,  and  leading  men  to  the  gospel  and  cross  of  our 
Lord  Jesus   Christ,      Hear  us,  O    God.     Bless  our  gathering 
together  at  this  time.     Pour  out  Thy  Spirit  upon  all  flesh.    Hear 
our   prayer.      Pardon    all    our    unprofitableness.      Accept    our 
service.     And  to  Thy  name  shall  be  praise.     Amen. 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  153 


HYMN  139. 

THE  PASTOR. 

As  those  of  you  who  heard  the  historical  sketch  on  Monday 
evening  may  remember,  this  church  owes  a  very  decided  debt  to 
the  Congregational  Church.  From  the  Congregational  Church 
this  church  obtained  its  first  pastor,  who  served  them  so  loner 
and  so  faithfully,  who  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  moulding  of  the 
life  of  the  church  at  the  beginning.  Then  again,  when  this 
church  built  really  its  first  church  edifice,  going  out  of  the  Bar- 
badoes  Store  into  a  church  of  its  own,  it  received  very  valuable 
help  from  the  Congregational  Church  of  Boston.  Mr.  Andrews 
says  that  the  church  would  not  have  been  built  otherwise,  if  the 
friends  in  Boston  had  not  generously  contributed,  and  through 
all  its  history  this  church  has  had  peculiarly  friendly  relations 
with  the  Congregational  Church.  We  esteem  it,  therefore,  a 
privilege  to  welcome  to-night  Dr.  Behrends,  of  Brooklyn,  who 
is  able  to  represent,  and  will  represent  fully,  the  Congregational 
body.  He  has  come  over  here,  I  know,  at  the  cost  of  some  per- 
sonal sacrifice.  I  regret  that  the  weather  is  so  unpropitious  that 
these  seats  are  not  all  filled,  but  I  can  assure  him  that 
those  who  are  here  will  be  most  appreciative  listeners,  and  we 
will  be  glad  now  to  hear  him. 

ADDRESS.— "  Greetings  of  the  Congregational  Church." 

Rev.  A.  J.  F.  Behrends,  D.D., 
Pastor  of  the  Central  Congregational.  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

I  want  to  assure  you,  Christian  friends,  at  the  very  outset, 
that  no  personal  sacrifice  has  been  involved  in  my  accepting  the 
very  courteous  and  cordial  invitation  of  your  pastor  to  be  pres- 
ent here  to-night,  to  join  with  you  in  these  congratulatory  services. 
I  am  more  than  glad  to  be  here.  I  judge  that  Dr.  Baker  is  very 
much  better  acquainted  with  Presbyterian  polity  than  he  is  with 
Congregational  polity.     There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  Presbyterian 


154  Si-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

Church,  there  is  such  a  thiug  as  an  Episcopal  Church,  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  Methodist  Church  ;  but  if  there  be  such  a  thing 
as  a  Congregational  Church  or  a  Baptist  Church,  I  should  like  to 
have  Dr.  Baker  point  it  out  to  me.  You  said  u  church  "  most 
of  the  time  and  "body"  only  once.  I  have  been  a  Baptist 
about  sixteen  years  and  a  Congregationalist  about  twenty-four 
years,  and  I  have  been  on  the  watch  for  that  thing  during  forty 
years,  and  I  have  not  found  it  yet.  We  speak  of  Congregational 
churches  just  as  we  speak  of  Baptist  churches,  because  that  is 
one  of  the  points  upon  which  we  differ  from  Presbyterians  or 
Methodists  or  Episcopalians.  The  peculiar  feature  of  our  ecclesi- 
astical organization  is  that  there  is  no  body  higher  than  the  local 
church  itself,  no  appeal  to  Presbytery,  no  appeal  to  Conference, 
no  appeal  to  Synod,  no  appeal  to  General  Assembly ;  and  so  I 
beg  you  to  remember  at  the  outset  that  I  do  not  represent  any- 
body but  myself,  and  I  do  not  speak  for  anybody  but  myself.  I 
am  very  glad  I  am  not  alone.  There  is  a  team  of  us  here 
to-night.  Dr.  Tupper  does  not  represent  anybody  except  him- 
self. It  does  not  even  follow  that  he  represents  the  church  of 
which  he  is  the  pastor.  If  the  people  of  his  church  are  like  the 
people  of  my  church,  they  believe  a  good  many  things  I  do  not, 
and  I  believe  a  good  many  things  they  do  not,  and  I  generally 
try  my  very  best  to  get  the  best  of  them.  That  is  the  minister's 
business. 

I  am  very  sure,  however,  that  I  have  an  easy  place  to-night  so 
far  as  this  matter  of  bringing  to  you  greetings  from  your  Con- 
gregational brethren,  because  while  we  are  separate  in  ecclesiasti- 
cal organization,  and  separate  in  regard  to  many  specific  functions 
of  church  life,  there  is  a  very  broad  and  deep  common  founda- 
tion in  the  faith  and  the  practice  which  distinguish  both  Presby- 
terians and  Congregationalists,  and  for  that  matter  Baptists  too. 
That  hymn  which  we  have  just  been  singing  seems  to  me  to  have 
been  and  to  be  peculiarly  adapted  as  a  point  of  departure  for  the 
services  of  this  evening.  We  have  been  lifted  up  on  its  wings 
into  the  heaven  of  heavens.  Under  its  inspiration  we  have  the 
bright  vision  of  a  world  conquest  by  the  gospel,  and  by  it,  as  by 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  155 


a  strong  flood  tide,  when  the  heart  enters  into  it,  so  that  we  sing 
with  the  spirit  and  with  the  understanding  also,  all  barriers  of 
ecclesiastical  and  of  theological  separation  are  swept  away.  There 
is  a  good  deal  of  the  polemic  in  my  make-up.  I  like  a  good 
square  fight,  but  I  always  break  my  lances  and  I  throw  the 
severed  parts  away  whenever  the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ  appears  in 
view.  There  is  no  fight  left.  I  have  been  asking  myself  while 
you  were  singing,  Where  am  I  to-night?  You  say,  u  That  is 
easy  enough  to  answer;  you  are  in  the  pulpit  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church."  No,  I  am  not.  That  is  only  part  of  the 
truth.  I  am  not  merely  in  the  pulpit  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  made  famous  by  forty  years  of  pastoral  service  by  that 
great  and  good  man,  Albert  Barnes  ;  I  am  on  a  platform  which 
for  two  centuries  has  been  true  and  steadfast  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
to  his  gospel,  and  therefore  I  do  not  feel  a  bit  out  of  place.  I  ask  my- 
self, Who  am  I  ?  I  look  at  your  program  and  find  my  name  there, 
and  probably  a  good  many  of  you  wonder  what  those  three 
initials  mean,  and  when  you  try  to  pronounce  the  last  name  I 
venture  to  say  there  will  not  two  of  you  pronounce  it  alike.  I 
do  not  know  any  two  men  that  ever  did  pronounce  it  alike.  That 
is  not  my  name.  That  was  given  to  me  before  I  knew  anything 
consciously  of  my  existence.  It  is  a  name  that  in  a  very  few 
years  will  perish  with  me,  obliterated  upon  the  headstone  where 
my  body  shall  be  laid  away.  It  is  not  the  name  I  am  going  to 
carry  into  eternity.  My  earthly  father  gave  it  to  me,  but  I  am 
another's  son  by  the  grace  of  adoption,  and  somewhere  in  my 
New  Testament  I  have  read  this :  that  a  white  stone  is  given  to 
every  believer,  and  upon  that  stone  a  name  written  which  no  one 
knows  except  he  who  gives  it  and  he  who  receives  it.  By  the 
pierced  palms  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  name  has  been 
written  on  this  heart  of  mine,  as  it  is  written  on  your 
heart,  and  on  yours,  and  by  and  by  from  out  of  that 
heart  it  shall  come  in  flashes  upon  the  brow.  That  is  my 
name.  A  child  of  God,  not  by  any  inherited  right  or  personal 
merit,  but  by  the  free  grace  of  adoption  which  centres  in  him 
who  is  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  and  in  whom  alone  your  sonship 


156  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

and  mine  is.  Then  I  have  asked  myself  another  question, 
"  What  am  I  ?  "  That  perplexes  me  a  good  deal  sometimes. 
When  I  look  back  upon  my  religious  history,  I  wonder  how  I 
ever  survived  the  changes  through  which  I  have  passed.  I  was 
baptized  in  the  old  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  and  that  on  good 
Holland  soil,  for  I  was  born  across  the  ocean.  Then  I  was  very 
diligentlv  trained  in  the  theologv  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  con- 
firmed  when  I  was  only  a  lad  of  fourteen,  became  a  communicant 
of  that  body  of  Christians,  an  unconverted  lad,  knowing  nothing 
in  personal  experience  of  the  saving  power  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  ministry  of  his  Holy  Spirit  in  the  conscience  and  in  the 
affections.  Four  years  passed  away,  and  one  of  those  old-fash- 
ioned circuit  riders  in  the  forests  of  southern  Ohio  who  murdered 
the  king's  English,  had  never  read  one  page  of  Murray's  gram- 
mar, or  any  other,  but  who  knew  his  Bible,  and  who  knew  what 
salvation  by  Jesus  Christ  was — those  simple,  blunt  words  of  his 
fell  into  soil  that  was  prepared,  and  the  deep  springs  within 
were  broken  up,  and  there  was  a  strong  grip  upon  the  conscience, 
and  I  was  converted  in  the  old-fashioned  Methodist  way  until  I 
shouted  "  Glory,  hallelujah  !  "  Yes,  I  did  then.  I  have  not  done 
it  often  since.  Sometimes  my  blood  boils  in  me  to  do  it.  Then 
I  became  a  Presbyterian,  and  got  thoroughly  straightened  out  on 
theology.  Then  the  Baptists  put  me  under  water.  Then  I  went 
to  a  Baptist  college  and  was  graduated  there.  Then  I  had  the 
Baptist  theology  crammed  into  me  at  Rochester,  New  York. 
Then  I  was  ordained  by  a  Baptist  Council,  and  for  ten  years  I 
performed  the  duties  of  a  Baptist  minister;  eight  years  in 
Yonkers,  New  York,  and  two  years  and  a  half  in  Cleve-  • 
land,  Ohio.  Then  I  jumped  over  the.  fence  and  became  a 
Congregationalist.  I  have  been  there  twenty-three  years 
now,  seven  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  and  the  last  six- 
teen years  in  Brooklyn.  You  call  that  evolution.  I  call  it 
revolution.  There  is  only  one  more  step  I  have  got  to  make: 
to  go  back  into  the  church  of  my  fathers,  the  old  Dutch 
Church,  famous  for  many  things ;  most  famous  for  the  Synod 
of  Doit,  whose  Calvinism   is  just  a  little  steeper  than  that  of 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  157 


the  Westminister  Confession  of  Faith.     I  see  you  have  got  one 
Dutchman  there. 

Well,  that  is  rather  introductory.  I  am  not  a  collector  of 
curiosities,  I  am  not  an  antiquarian,  but  among  the  few  literary 
treasures  in  my  library  are  these  four  things :  a  sermon  plan 
in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Charles  Spurgeon;  a  manuscript 
sermon  by  Nathaniel  Emmons,  preached  in  1802;  a  manuscript 
sermon  by  George  B.  Cheever,  preached  in  1846  and  repeated  in 
1851  (he  gave  himself  away  when  he  wrote  that  second  date 
on  the  margin),  and  a  manuscript  sermon  by  Albert  Barnes, 
preached  in  the  pulpit  of  this  church  on  the  sixth  of  December, 
1846.  It  is  accompanied  with  an  autograph  letter,  dated  July 
14th,  1858,  when  it  was  published  for  the  first  time.  Here  is  the 
old  hymn  book.  You  do  not  use  it  now,  but  I  can  give  you  the 
hymns  that  were  sung  that  Sunday  morning.  Hymn  No.  403, 
which  was  the  first  hymn,  "A  charge  to  keep  I  have,  a  God  to 
glorify."  The  second  was  hymn  No.  145, ''Majestic  sweetness 
sits  enthroned  upon  the  Saviour's  brow ;  His  head  with  radiant 
glories  crowned,  His  lips  with  grace  o'erflow."  The  last  hymn, 
concluding  the  service,  was  128;  a  hymn,  by  the  way,  written 
by  an  Arminian  and  sung  by  a  Calvinistic  congregation,  "Jesus, 
Lover  of  my  Soul."  It  has  been  a  very  interesting  task  for  me 
to  compare  these  four  sermon  samples.  They  yield  very  inter- 
esting disclosures.  Spurgeon's  outline  is  for  sore  and  wounded 
hearts.  I  heard  the  sermon,  of  which  I  have  only  the  plan.  Its 
theme  was  the  furnace  which  God  prepares  for  every  believing 
soul.  He  never  duplicates  his  furnace,  Spurgeon  says.  He  has 
one  furnace  for  each  man  whom  he  wants  to  save,  and  when  its 
work  is  done  he  breaks  it  to  pieces,  and,  strangely  enough,  the 
general  theme  which  he  drew  from  his  text  was  the  relation  of 
election  to  trial  by  fire.  I  remember  one  point  that  he  made  that 
I  never  forgot.  He  said,  "  The  fire  changes  you,  but  it  does  not 
change  God's  purpose  on  behalf  of  you."  So  'this  sermon  is  a 
message  of  comfort.  Emmons'  sermon  is  just  like  him,  fully 
written  out,  two  general  divisions,  seven  subdivisions,  eight 
improvements  added  for  full  measure — seventeen  in  all,  written 


158  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

on  small,  unlined  note  paper,  with  every  line  just  as  straight  as  if 
the  ruler  had  been  drawn  across  it,  a  solid,  merciless,  theological 
treatise  from  beginning  to  end,  of  which  you  could  not  drop  out 
a  word,  setting  forth  the  terrible  doom  of  the  sinner.  Dr. 
Cheever's  sermon  is  a  tender  and  impassioned  plea  that  Chris- 
tians engage  in  the  service  of  God  for  the  conversion  of  men ;  and 
Albert  Barnes,  writing  on  large,-  green-colored,  gilt-edged,  broad- 
margin  sermon  paper,  with  a  chirography  almost  as  fine  and  exact 
as  steel  eugraving,  puts  his  whole  soul  into  a  simple,  ardent  com- 
mendation of  the  Christian  ministry  to  young  men  of  earnest 
minds.  His  text  was  Acts  16:1  to  3,  and  the  theme  was  an 
appeal  to  young  men  on  the  subject  of  the  ministry. 

Each  one  of  these  four  sermons  was  a  revelation  of  the  man. 
Spurgeon,  in  love  with  the  ministry  of  comfort ;  Emmons  ham- 
mering the  steel  links  of  a  theological  system  ;  Cheever  aflame 
with  the  passion  for  souls;  Barnes  throwing  his  whole  heart 
into  the  ennobling  of  young  life  by  pen  and  by  speech;  for 
that  is  the  meaning  of  his  voluminous  notes  on  the  Bible.  I 
should  not  dare  to  tell  you  what  my  theological  teacher  said  about 
Albert  Barnes'  notes.  I  see  that  Prof.  Johnson  yonder,  in  the 
rear  of  the  room,  has  had  the  audacity  to  print  it  in  his  autobi- 
ography of  that  revered  theological  teacher.  I  will  not  tell  you 
what  it  was.  You  will  not  know  unless  you  hunt  it  up.  But  I 
want  to  say  this,  that  Albert  Barnes  never  wrote  his  notes  for 
theological  students.  He  never  designed  his  notes  for  those  who 
are  competent  to  act  as  critics  upon  the  original.  He  wrote  his 
notes  for  Sunday-school  teachers,  and  with  them  they  have  had 
a  remarkable  influence.  The  training  of  youug  men  was,  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  ministry,  one  of  the  four  things 
in  which  he  toiled  with  unabated  enthusiasm.  The  other  three 
were  these :  temperance,  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  unlimited 
atonement. 

I  would  lilce  to  talk  for  about  an  hour  and  a  half  to-night  on 
this  subject  of  Albert  Barnes  and  Presbyterianism.  I  tell  you 
there  is  a  lot  for  a  Congregational ist  to  do  when  he  gets  on  that 
topic.     It  is  very  inviting.     President  Patton  has  spoken  to  you 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  159 

on  Presbyterian  doctrine,  and  I  presume  that  when  his  speech  is 
published  there  will  not  be  an  Arminian  left  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  I  see  that  Dr.  Herriek  Johnson  has  unfolded  to 
you  the  beauty  and  the  beneficence  of  the  Presbyterian  Form 
of  Government,  and  I  presume  that  when  that  speech  is 
printed  the  Baptists  and  the  Congregationalists  will  be  piling 
pellmell  over  each  other  to  see  who  shall  get  the  Presbyterian 
government  first.  Now,  speaking  of  President  Patton,  I  was 
in  this  house  once  before.  I  do  not  believe  one  of  you  remem- 
bers my  coming  in  or  going  out.  I  was  not  in  the  pulpit.  I 
had  a  seat  down  in  one  of  these  pews  twenty  years  ago,  on  Sun- 
day morning,  damp  and  misty,  just  about  as  it  is  to-night. 
There  was  a  very  slim  congregation  present.  We  had  an  excel- 
lent sermon,  though,  from  Prof.  Patton.  What  impressed  me 
more  than  the  sermon  even  was  this:  that  he  should  be  standing 
in  the  place  made  famous  by  Albert  Barnes,  and  evidently,  if  I 
have  read  your  program  aright,  you  are  not  a  bit  afraid  of 
Princeton  College  or  of  Princeton  theology;  because,  if  you  had 
been  afraid,  you  would  not  have  selected  President  Patton  as  the 
expounder  of  Presbyterian  doctrine.  Throughout  the  entire 
painful  period  of  disruption,  from  1837  to  1870,  Albert  Barnes 
was  in  the  thick  of  the  fight.  It  pleased  God  to  spare  him,  and 
in  his  own  city,  in  May,  1870,  to  be  a  personal  witness,  if  not  an 
active  participant,  in  the  great  reunion.  Seven  months  after- 
ward he  entered  into  the  eternal  peace;  and  eight  years  after- 
ward he  was  followed  by  Charles  Hodge.  These  two  men 
clasped  hands  before  they  died ;  and  in  heaven,  as  Melancthon 
said  on  his  deathbed,  theologians  even  never  quarrel.  The  Lord 
grant  you,  my  brethren,  favor,  that  there  may  never  be  a  second 
disruption.  Let  us  be  patient  and  wait,  so  long  as  loyalty  to 
Jesus  Christ  and  to  the  Scriptures  of  his  endorsement  remain 
supreme.  It  seems  to  me  that  those  are  the  two  pillars  of  our 
faith,  the  two  great  piers  over  which  is  sprung  the  mighty  arch 
of  salvation,  crossing  the  turbid,  the  wide,  the  roaring  waters  of 
sin  and  of  death.  The  incarnation  of  God  in  Christ,  and  the 
inspired  authority  of  the  Bible,  these  must  stand.     I  say  the 


1 60  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

incarnation  of  God  in  Christ ;  not  a  Pantheistic  immanence, 
which,  creeping  up  from  the  sponges  of  the  sea  and  the  shellfish 
comes  to  its  flower  in  man  and  to  its  full  fruit  in  Jesus  Christ — 
not  that;  not  a  Pantheistic  immanence  of  God  in  Christ,  nor 
merely  a  mystical  union  of  God  with  him  by  the  Spirit,  but  a 
conscious  personal  identification  of  Jesus  Christ  with  the  eternal 
Godhead — that  has  been  the  note  of  triumphant  conviction  and 
of  amazing  courage  through  martyr  fires  and  through  dungeons, 
from  the  hour  that  Peter  made  it  until  the  present  time.  The 
inspired  authority  of  the  Bible, — not  a  hard  and  fast  theory  of 
inspiration,  whether  mechanical  or  dynamic,  whether  verbal  or 
noematic,  whether  plenary  or  partial,  not  that;  not  the  claim  of 
absolute  inerrancy  in  dates  and  genealogical  tables  and  quotations 
from  the  Old  Testament  and  minor  details,  but  these  two  things: 
the  historicity  of  the  record,  and  the  authority  of  the  doctrine. 
By  these  we  stand  and  by  these  we  fall.  For  these  we  intelli- 
gently, deliberately,  incessantly  do  fight,  and  will  fight  to  the 
very  end.  Brethren,  I  hope  you  have  had  enough  of  trials  for 
heresy.  One  bite  of  that  sort  of  thing  is  enough  to  gorge  a  man 
for  a  lifetime.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  sometimes  they  are 
not  necessary.  They  are.  So  are  amputations,  but  you  do  not 
want  one  every  week  in  a  family,  and  one  trial  for  heresy  is 
enough  for  a  century.  After  all,  they  do  not  settle  much  of  any- 
thing. The  open  fight  is  the  best.  Let  men  say  what  they  have 
to  say,  and  let  their  speech  be  searched  to  the  inmost  core.  Search 
the  Scriptures;  test  what  is  taught.  In  the  open  fight  over  the 
Bible  down  to  this  moment  tradition  holds  the  vantage  ground. 
I  may  be  a  very  poor  observer,  but  if  I  am  right  in  my  observa- 
tion, Willhausen  has  one  foot  in  the  grave  already  where  Baur  is 
buried,  and  there  was  more  genius  and  learning  in  Baur's  single 
head  than  there  is  in  the  whole  Willhausen  school  of  the  present 
day.  The  truth  is  that  substantially  the  battle  has  been  fought, 
and  the  victory  has  been  won.  It  only  remains  to  send  the  cav- 
alry after  the  stragglers.  It  has  been  fought  and  won,  not  by 
ecclesiastical  censures,  but  by  the  weight  of  Christian  scholar- 
ship.    I  was  going  to  say  I  hope  every  one  of  you  will  get  the 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  161 

polychrome  Bible.  The  polychrome  Bible  is  its  own  hangman. 
The  new  Hebrew  dictionary,  that  is  being  got  out  laboriously  in 
parts  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  this,  is  going  to  be 
dead  before  it  is  finished.  When  I  saw  the  advertisement  in  the 
papers  of  the  Expositors'  Bible,  which  was  to  take  the  place  of 
Dean  Alford's  Commentary,  which  I  have  had  on  the  shelves  on 
my  revolving  desk  for  these  twenty-five  years  and  more,  you  can 
imagine  how  eager  I  was  to  buy  it.  My  Alford  is  all  to  pieces, 
leaves  and  binding  and  all.  I  said,  "Oh,  here  is  a  great  fiud  !  " 
Well,  I  read  it.  It  is  doomed  to  failure.  I  have  no  further  use 
for  the  volumes  that  are  going  to  succeed.  You  and  I  may  just 
as  well  stick  to  the  old  Bible,  the  Bible  that  our  fathers  read  and 
the  Bible  that  our  mothers  thumbed,  and  for  me  at  least  there  is 
not  a  better  commentary  to  be  found  anywhere  than  the  com- 
mentary of  John  Calvin.  I  do  not  know  of  any  better.  The 
old  way  is  still  the  best.  That  is  very  strange  sort  of  talk  for  a 
Congregationalist,  is  it  not  ?  Because  many  of  you  good  folks 
who  do  not  know  us  think  that  we  are  a  rope  of  sand,  think 
there  is  not  anybody  among  us  who  has  any  personal  convictions 
that  are  strong  enough  to  die  for.  You  think  of  us  as  a  creed- 
less  church.  Well,  we  have  very  little  ecclesiastical  machinery, 
and  there  are  no  authoritative  creeds  among  us;  but  I  tell  you 
what  we  have  got.  We  have  a  history,  and  facts  often  speak 
louder  than  words.  We  have  a  history  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic  of  which  any  sect  may  well  be  proud,  a  history  that  is 
not  distinguished  by  mere  petty  controversies  upon  ecclesiastical 
forms  or  procedure,  a  history  which  shows  you  a  constituency 
steeped  in  the  ardent  love  for  the  Bible,  a  history  which  shows 
you  a  constituency  that  has  always  stood  firm  as  a  rock  for  the 
preaching  and  the  divinity  of  that  gospel  which  was  once  for  all 
delivered  unto  the  saints.  We  have  a  great  history.  It  is  a  long 
while  ago,  but  still  it  is  part  of  our  history,  and  it  has  become 
part  of  yours  as  Presbyterians,  that  the  finest  mind  which  the 
United  States  has  ever  produced,  the  greatest  of  all  American 
philosophers  and  of  all  American  theologians,  belongs  more  to 
us  than  he  does  to  you,  though  he  died  with  you — Jonathan 
11 


162  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

Edwards,  who  passed  from  his  exile  at  Northampton  to  become 
president  of  Princeton  College;  and  I  say,  brethren,  what  God 
hath  joined  together  let  no  man  put  asunder.  Congregationalists 
do  not  believe  everything  that  Edwards  believed  or  taught  or 
wrote,  and  you  do  not  either.  You  are  just  as  badly  off  as  we 
are.  Mark  Hopkins  was  an  Edwardsean  in  his  ethics;  Dr. 
McCosh  was  not ;  and  Dr.  McCosh,  with  Mark  Hopkins,  did 
not  find  any  difficulty  in  laying  down  full  length  on  the  grass 
together  on  the  hill  slopes  of  Williamstown,  and  they  loved  each 
other  as  brothers.  We  have  our  history  ;  and  that  history  burns 
and  glows  with  ardent,  enthusiastic  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ,  the 
eternal  Son  of  God,  made  flesh,  dying  for  us  sinners  and  for  our 
salvation,  and  with  a  burning  enthusiasm  for  the  inspired 
authority  of  the  word  of  God.  Brethren,  we  have  our  domestic 
infelicity,  and  so  have  you,  and  I  look  around  and  I  find  every- 
body has  them.  I  look  back  and  see  that  they  had  them  100 
years  ago,  500  years  ago,  1800  years  ago,  4000  years  ago.  It  has 
always  been  so.  It  wrill  be  so  to  the  end  of  the  world.  I  do  not 
take  a  great  deal  of  stock  in  all  this  namby-pamby  talk  that  Ave 
are  living  in  a  peculiar  age.  Men  are  men,  and  human  nature 
is  human  nature.  Forms  of  conflict  may  differ.  At  heart  it  is 
always  the  same — the  old  fight  between  darkness  and  light,  between 
truth  and  falsehood,  between  sin  and  righteousness,  between  God 
and  the  devil — always  the  same  outside  of  the  Church  and  in  the 
Church,  always  the  same  fight.  Yes,  wTe  have  our  troubles  and 
we  have  had  our  troubles,  and  so  have  you  all ;  but  the  old  faith 
stands,  and  the  old  faith  holds  the  fort  with  us,  with  you,  with 
all,  and  it  is  going  to  sweep  with  its  victorious  column  all  the 
continents  and  all  the  isles  of  the  sea.  Nothing  else  can  do  it. 
The  old  gospel  preached  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  by  the  preach- 
ing of  which,  begun  by  Paul,  the  old  Roman  Empire  was  con- 
verted, and  the  eagles  bent  before  the  Nazarene — that  is  going  to  do 
it.  The  old  gospel — this  is  my  greeting  to  you  to-night.  You 
have  stood  fast.  We  have  stood  fast.  You  are  standing  fast. 
We  are  standing  fast.  Stand  fast  for  the  days  that  are  to  come. 
Put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God.     With  the  helmet  of  salvation 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  163 

upon  the  head,  with  the  breast-plate  of  righteousness  covering  the 
vitals,  with  the  left  arm  glued  to  the  shield  of  faith,  quenching 
the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked,  and  with  the  right  hand  seizing  the 
two-edge  blade  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God,  stand  for 
the  future  as  you  have  stood  for  these  two  hundred  years,  and  as 
you  are  standing  now,  and,  if  I  may  venture  to  say  it,  we  can 
stand  with  you,  shoulder  to  shoulder.  Swarming  all  around  us, 
in  eager  haste,  will  come  the  great,  gospel-loving  crowd  of 
Baptists,  from  whom  no  pool  of  water  and  no  fenced  table  shall 
ever  be  able  to  separate  us. 


THE  PASTOR. 

I  very  much  regret  to  say  that  Justice  Williams  is  not  with  us 
to-night,  and  we  shall  not  have  the  great  pleasure  of  hearing  an 
address  from  him,  representing  the  laity  of  the  church ;  but  the 
state  of  his  health  is  such  and  the  pressure  of  his  duties  upon  him 
at  this  time  so  great,  that  he  did  not  deem  it  expedient  to  come,  and 
we  did  not  deem  it  expedient  to  urge  his  coming.  We  know  what 
he  would  have  said  to  us,  at  least  we  know  the  spirit  of  it,  for  we 
have  heard  his  voice  more  than  once  in  our  own  church  meeting. 
He  begged  me  to  assure  those  who  might  be  present  of  his 
most  hearty  interest  in  this  celebration,  and  of  his  willing- 
ness to  do  all  that  might  be  in  him  to  do  in  the  way 
of  personal  service  when  he  shall  come,  back  to  worship 
with  us  during  the  winter.  So  the  only  remaining  address 
is  the  address  to  be  given  by  our  brother,  Dr.  Tupper,  of  the 
First  Baptist  Church  of  this  city,  whose  voice  we  have  before 
heard  within  these  walls  a  little  time  ago.  There  were  peculiarly 
intimate  relations  between  the  Baptists  and  Presbyterians — you  see 
I  say  nothing  about  the  church — in  the  early  days.  They  met 
together  in  that  old  Barbadoes  Store,  and  I  have  no  doubt  they 
had  some  royal  meetings.  In  course  of  time  they  thought  best  to 
separate,  to  go  each  his  own  way,  but  it  was  in  all  friendliness 
and  through  conscientious  conviction,  and  so  after  these  two 
hundred  years  we  meet  again.     We  meet  under  peculiarly  happy 


164  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

circumstances,  and  next  month  I  believe  the  Baptists  are  to  cele- 
brate their  bi-centennial,  and  we  will  get  the  start  of  all  others 
by  offering  them  to-night  our  heartfelt  congratulations  and 
greetings. 

ADDRESS. — "Gkeetings  of  the  Baptist  Church." 
Rev.  Kerr  Boyce  Tupper,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia. 

Like  my  very  distinguished,  evolved  and  revolved  Baptist- 
Congregational  brother,  Dr.  Behrends,  I  am  very  happy  indeed 
to  be  with  you  on  this  inspiring  anniversary  occasion.  Especially 
do  I  feel  it  a  source  of  pleasure  and  gratification  to  have  the 
privilege  and  honor  to-night  of  bearing  at  this  your  bi-centennial 
the  greetings  and  congratulations  of  the  Baptists  of  this  city,  and 
particularly  the  members  of  my  own  church.  At  a  meeting  of 
that  church  last  night  the  following  resolution  was  offered  and 
heartily  and  unanimously  carried  :  "  The  First  Baptist  Church 
in  Philadelphia  sends  most  cordial  Christian  greeting  to  their 
beloved  brethren  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadel- 
phia. In  1695,  when  both  of  us  were  few  and  feeble,  we  met  in 
joint  worship  in  the  storehouse  on  the  Barbadoes  lot.  You  prof- 
ited by  our  minister,  John  Watts,  on  alternate  Sundays,  and  we 
by  your  occasional  supplies.  On  December  11, 1698,  nine  persons 
coalesced  into  the  Baptist  Church,  whose  bi-centennial  we  shall 
celebrate  next  month.  With  true  Presbyterian  push  you  organ- 
ized into  a  church  nearly  a  month  earlier  than  we,  just  as  in  1815 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  stole  a  march  upon  us  by 
founding  the  first  Sunday-school  in  Philadelphia,  less  than  a 
month  before  we  did.  We  have  been  trying  to  keep  up  with  you 
in  good  works  ever  since  then,  but  we  find  it  taxes  all  of  our 
ingenuity  and  our  strength.  As  stated  by  good  old  Morgan — I 
give  his  own  words — you  in  a  manner  drove  the  Baptists  away 
two  centuries  ago.  We  have  long  since  forgiven  you,  and  wel- 
comed you  into  our  hearts,  and  know  no  rivalry  other  than  in 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  165 


love  for  our  common  Lord  and   Master  and  in  service  for  our 
fellow  man." 

This  resolution,  Dr.  Baker,  I  hand  you  to  keep  as  an  expres- 
sion of  our  sympathy,  our  love,  and  our  congratulation.  The 
nearly  five  million  of  people  whom  I  represent  to-night  have  the 
profoundest  admiration  for  the  great  Presbyterian  body,  for  its 
heroic  history,  for  its  splendid  culture,  for  its  missionary  enthu- 
siasm and  achievements,  for  its.  consecrated  devotion  to  a  pure, 
unemasculated,  evangelical  Christianity.  I  think  that  we  in 
nothing  rejoice  so  much  as  in  this :  that  you  have  with  such 
fearlessness  and  such  firmness  and  such  fidelity  always  stood  true 
to  the  great,  cardinal,  fundamental,  vital  principles  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  With  us,  you  are  true  to  the  inspiration  of  the  New, 
and,  Dr.  Behrends,  the  Old  Testament  also,  which  Dr.  Behrends 
has  so  faithfully  defended,  through  the  last  two  years  particu- 
larly, to  the  divine  nature  and  atoning  death  of  Jesus  Christ, 
to  the  personality  and  deity  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  the  depravity 
of  man  and  the  need  of  a  divine  renewal  from  above,  to  the 
spiritual  character  of  church  membership,  and  to  the  inalienable 
and  glorious  right  of  private  judgment  and  of  private  interpre- 
tation— all  of  these  things  because  God's  word  reveals  these 
things,  and  we  together  believe  that  what  God's  word  reveals  man 
should  accept,  and  what  God's  word  enjoins  man  should  seek  to 
obey  ;  that  in  all  matters  of  the  soul  you  have  heard  no  voice  but 
divinity,  claimed  no  master  but  Christ,  and  held  no  creed  but 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  Together  I  think  you  and  I  have  on  this 
simple,  eternal,  immovable  principle  always  stood,  heroically  and 
fearlessly,  trammelled  by  no  machinery,  tied  down  by  no  set  form 
of  worship,  and  fettered  by  no  tradition,  but  free  to  come  and 
go,  to  preach  and  plan  and  labor  just  as  we  pleased,  if  only  we 
are  true  to  the  infallible  word  of  the  eternal  God.  We  thank 
God  and  take  courage  when  we  think  of  your  history  in  that 
direction.  Let  me  say  to-night,  I  believe  the  glory  of  any 
Christian  denomination  can  be  expressed  in  one  sentence,  and 
that  sentence  is  this :  to  maintain  among  themselves  and  to  prop- 
agate among  others  absolute  loyalty  to  God's  word  in  belief  and 


166  Bi-eentennkd  Celebration  of  the 

in  life,  to  win  the  world  to  Christ,  to  develop  the  Church  of  God, 
and  to  advance  humanity  in  the  highest  principles  of  the  glori- 
ous civilization,  on  the  basis  and  through  the  instrumentality  of 
that  word  as  the  final  and  sufficient  revelation  of  God's  will  and 
God's  way  to  men,  that  one  divine  aim  comprehending  all  things, 
even  as  the  narrow  tubes  of  the  telescope  comprehend  the  farthest 
fields  of  visional  space  that  the  human  eye  cau  take  in.  The 
Baptist  rejoices  with  you  in  this  :  that  you  have  always  been  so 
true  to  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  let  me  say  as 
a  Baptist,  that  I  rejoice  so  much  to-night  as  I  look  over  the  pro- 
gram, to  see  that  the  various  branches  of  the  great  Church  of 
Christ  have  been  represented  in  these  bi-centennial  services.  There 
are  only  two  churches  in  the  world,  the  church  universal  and  the 
church  local,  the  church  organic  and  the  church  organized,  the 
church  divisible  and  the  church  indivisible,  the  church  mortal 
and  the  church  immortal,  the  church  born  of  God  and  the  church 
constructed  of  men  ;  and  to  every  man  that  has  his  heart  in  the 
matter,  and  whose  heart  has  been  touched  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
the  church  universal  is  always  more  than  the  church  local,  and 
the  church  indivisible  more  than  the  church  divisible,  and  the 
church  organic  more  than  the  church  organized,  and  the  church 
born  of  God  more  than  the  church  constructed  of  men.  As  a 
Baptist  I  love  to  sing  with  the  Methodist  Wesley,  "  Jesus, 
Lover  of  my  Soul,  Let  me  to  Thy  Bosom  Fly,"  and  then  with 
the  Episcopalian  Topladv,  "Rock  of  Ages,  Cleft  for  me,  Let 
me  Hide  Myself  in  Thee,"  and  then  with  the  Congregationalist 
Palmer,  "  My  Faith  Looks  up  to  Thee,  Thou  Lamb  of  Calvary," 
and  then  with  the  Presbyterian  Bonar,  "  Glory  be  to  God  the 
Father,  Glory  be  to  God  the  Son,  Glory  be  to  God  the  Spirit, 
Great  Divine  Three  in  One,"  and  then  with  the  Reformer 
Luther,  "A  Mighty  Fortress  is  Our  God,  a  Bulwark  Never 
Failing,"  and  then  with  the  Catholic  Newman,  "Lead,  Kindly 
Light,  Amidst  the  Encircling  Gloom,  Lead  Thou  me  On,"  and 
then  with  the  Unitarian  Behring — would  to  God  all  Unitarians 
would  sing  as  he  sang  ! — "  In  the  Cross  of  Christ  I  Glory,  Tower- 
ing O'er  the  Wrecks  of  Time;    All  the  Light  of  Sacred  Story 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  167 

Gathers  Round  its  Head  Sublime,"  and  then  with  the  Baptist 
Faucett,  "  Blest  be  the  Tie  that  Binds  Our  Hearts  in  Christian 
Love ;  The  Fellowship  of  Kindred  Minds  is  Like  to  that 
Above."  Then  I  love  to  hear  all  these  voices  blending  together 
in  one  great  song  of  union,  "  Like  a  Mighty  Army  Moves 
the  Church  of  God ;  Brothers,  we  are  Treading  where  the 
Saints  have  Trod  ;  We  are  not  Divided ;  All  One  Body  We, 
One  in  Hope  and  Doctrine,  One  in  Charity."  I  believe  that 
more  and  more  we  are  seeing  that  in  the  Church  of  Christ  there 
is  room  for  all  graces  and  all  gifts,  Episcopal  sestheticism,  Con- 
gregational scholarship,  Presbyterian  theology,  Methodist  activ- 
ity, Quaker  passivity,  and  Baptist  independence,  if  it  does  not 
run  into  anarchy.  There  is  room  for  all  these,  that  we  may  be 
the  perfect  Church  of  our  Lord  and  Master,  Jesus  Christ.  So  I 
take  great  pleasure  to-night  in  bearing  greetings  and  congratula- 
tions of  the  Baptists,  not  only  of  this  city,  but  of  our  nation  and 
of  the  world,  to  this  old  church  on  this  occasion. 

So  much  for  the  greetings.  What  message  have  I  for  you 
to-night?  Like  my  ancient  Baptist  brother,  John  Bunyan,  and 
like  my  recent  Baptist  brother,  Dr.  Behrends,  I  have  been  some- 
what tumbled  up  in  my  mind  to  decide  what  to  talk  to  you 
about  in  the  twenty  minutes  that  I  have  left ;  but  I  have  settled 
on  this,  "Some  marks  of  progress  in  the  world  since  this  church 
was  founded."  I  want  to  go  home  to-night  believing  that  God 
is  reigning,  and  that  our  world  grows  better  from  generation  to 
generation  because  God  reigns  supreme  from  century  to  century. 
In  a  peculiarly  fascinating  address  by  perhaps  the  most  gifted 
and  accomplished  of  all  nineteenth  century  statesmen — I  believe 
it  was  the  last  public  address  that  was  ever  made  by  that  grand 
and  good  man  whose  ashes-  Westminster  Abbey  has  recently 
received — there  was  uttered  in  England,  before  an  enthusiastic 
and  sympathetic  audience,  this  ringing,  royal  sentence,  "Let  us 
believe  that  Christianity  and  humanity  are  advancing  all  the 
time  ;  that,  whether  we  can  see  it  or  not,  there  is  a  constant  and 
developing  progress  in  human  life  and  in  the  affairs  of  God;  that 
though  iniquity  may  prevail  for  a  season  and  men's  hearts  fail 


1 68  Bl-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

with  fear,  still  both  onward  and  upward  goes  our  race  in  God- 
guided  and  irresistible  movement."  Now,  as  you  begin  to  stand 
on  the  very  threshold  of  your  third  hundred  years,  I  want  more 
than  ever  you  should  believe  that  our  world  grows  better,  that 
you  should  look  around  you  and  see,  as  encouragement  and 
inspiration,  with  a  really  optimistic  soul,  that  there  is  improve- 
ment everywhere  and  in  all  directions,  in  material  conditions,  in 
social  relations,  in  philanthropic  endeavor,  in  educational  move- 
ments, in  moral  elevation,  and  in  Christian  growth  and  attain- 
ment, the  whole  race  moving  forward,  through  frightful  crises, 
to  what  Mazzini  calls  the  cultivative  progress  of  human  destiny. 
Human  history  is  not  a  descending,  a  downward  spiral,  but  an 
upward,  an  ascending  spiral,  growing  by  a  sure  evolutionary 
process  from  the  less  to  the  greater,  from  the  good  to  the  better, 
and  all  the  world  under  God  improving  because  God  lives,  or,  as 
Whittier  puts  it  so  well,  "All  the  good  the  past  have  had  remains 
to  make  our  own  time  glad."  Fortunately  I  am  an  optimist 
because  I  am  a  Christian,  an  optimist  not  so  much  from  a  genial 
disposition  as  from  faith  in  God  Almighty,  because,  as  Dr. 
Behrends  has  so  well  said  to-night,  truth  is  stronger  than  false- 
hood, right  is  stronger  than  wrong,  and  God  is  stronger  than  the 
devil.  Above  all  the  din  and  roar  of  our  day  I  love  to  quote 
those  two  lines  from  the  popular  song,  "  God's  in  his  heaven  ; 
all's  right  with  the  world." 

I  know  there  are  many  conditions  of  our  day  that  make  us 
tremble.  Take  our  own  country,  for  instance.  There  is  the 
vast  increase  in  our  population.  There  is  the  nature  of  much  of 
our  immigration,  so  ignorant  and  thriftless.  There  is  the  natural- 
ization  among;  us  of  communism  and  anarch v,  nihilism  and 
socialism.  There  is  the  rapid  development  of  our  urban  life, 
beyond  the  power  sometimes  it  would  seem  of  the  gospel  to  reach 
it.  There  is  the  non-attendance  of  thousands  and  thousands 
upon  Christian  worship,  and  their  indifference  to  the  sanctuaries 
of  Christian  faith,  and  all  these  things  throw  a  deep,  dark,  dis- 
tressing shadow  over  the  disk  of  our  civilization ;  and  yet  the 
man  that  will  stop  and  consider  our  world — contrast  our  world 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  169 

to-day  with  the  world  of  two  hundred  years  ago — will  take 
courage,  thank  God,  and  have  inspiration  to  be  better  and  to  do 
better  in  the  rest  of  his  life.  Let  me  give  you  a  few  illustrations 
to-night  in  the  realm  moral  first,  and  then  in  the  realm  spiritual. 
At  the  great  World's  Exposition,  in  1893,  there  might  have  been 
seen  in  the  Massachusetts  building,  in  Chicago,  lottery  tickets 
issued  by  Harvard  College  in  1794.  Those  tickets  sold  for  five 
dollars  each.  They  were  offered  in  the  legislative  rooms  in 
Boston.  All  the  proceeds  of  those  tickets  went  to  build  a 
library  for  Harvard  College.  Is  such  a  thing  possible  to-day, 
after  the  development  of  civilization  and  of  Christianity  for  the 
last  two  hundred  years  ?  You  may  have  been  surprised  at  that, 
Go  to  the  very  next  building  and  you  will  find  there  lottery 
tickets  issued  by  the  state  of  Massachusetts  and  by  the  govern- 
ment of  our  United  States  in  the  year  1794,  as  a  means  of  rais- 
ing money  for  the  expenses  of  the  government.  Now,  after 
Christian  operation  in  our  country,  we  find  that  this  very  gov- 
ernment of  ours  is  not  allowing  even  the  advertisement  of  a 
lottery  to  pass  through  the  mails  of  the  United  States.  That 
may  have  astonished  you;  but  there  is  something  more  than  that. 
I  have  here  in  my  pocket  a  copy  of  a  lottery  ticket  issued  by  a 
Christian  church  when  this  church  was  one  hundred  years  old. 
The  original  is  held  by  one  of  the  citizens  of  Philadelphia.  It 
reads  thus,  "Protestant  Episcopal  Lottery,  No.  6696" — which 
shows  how  many  had  been  taken  up  to  that  time.  "  This  ticket 
entitles  the  possessor  to  such  profits  as  may  be  drawn  against  its 
number,  if  demanded  within  six  months.  By  order  of  the 
General  Association  of  Rhode  Island.  (Signed),  William  H. 
Larned,  Moderator.  November  17,  1797."  When  this  church 
was  ninety-nine  years  old,  it  was  nothing  uncommon  for  colleges 
and  churches  and  states  and  the  United  States  of  America  to  use 
lottery  tickets,  something  to-day  unthinkable,  owing  to  the  devel- 
opment of  our  civilization. 

Look  at  another  aspect  of  this  moral  development.  When 
this  church  was  one  hundred  years  old  liquor  was  used  in  fami- 
lies, was  used  at  funerals,  wras  used  at  the  ordination  of  ministers, 


170  Bi-eentennial  Celebration  of  the 

and  used  at  the  dedication  of  Christian  churches.  If  you  will 
go  to  Beverly,  Massachusetts,  and  take  up  the  church  record  in 
the  year  1785,  you  will  find  these  words,  "And  the  church 
shall  lay  by  thirty-five  pounds  for  the  ordination  of  our  pastor, 
Reverend  Thomas  McKane,  eighteen  pounds  of  which  shall  be 
for  rum  and  for  wine."  In  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
you  remember  what  in  England  the  usual  sign  was,  as  you  went 
through  the  streets,  on  every  tavern,  "  Come  in  and  drink  for  a 
penny.  For  two  pennies  get  dead  drunk.  No  cost  for  straw." 
That  was  the  usual  sign.  To-day,  you  and  I,  because  of  the 
impact  of  Christianity  on  our  civilization,  place  screens  so  that 
we  cannot  see  these  spectacles  of  death  in  these  houses  of  hell. 
At  the  very  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  as  Sydney  tells  us  in 
his  life  of  Sir  Richard  Hall,  the  usual  invitation  to  dinner  from 
one  gentleman  of  high  order  to  another  gentleman  read  thus, 
"Mr.  A.  presents  his  compliments  to  Mr.  B.,  and  requests  the 
honor  of  his  company  to  dinner  and  to  get  drunk."  Now,  con- 
trast our  day  with  that,  and  you  will  have  faith  in  the  Lord  God 
Almighty,  who  is  ruling  and  overturning  these  things  for  the 
glory  of  his  name  and  for  the  uplifting  of  our  civilization. 
To-day  we  demand  that  sobriety  shall  be  part  of  the  life  of  every 
man  who  ministers  to  the  higher  necessity  of  humanity.  The 
great  mountain  peaks  of  intellectual  life  have  already  been 
touched  by  the  sunrise  of  reform,  and  that  radiance  is  creeping 
flown  into  the  valleys  of  ignorance  and  of  vice,  just  as  the 
morning  brightness  first  tints  Mont  Blanc,  and  then  bathes  sweet 
Chamounix  in  its  refreshing  light.  I  think  you  and  I,  as  we  con- 
sider these  things,  will  thank  God  that  with  the  development  of 
the  Church  there  has  been  this  uplifting  of  civilization  in  so  many 
directions. 

Now  come  for  a  few  moments  into  the  Christian  realm  and  see 
what  vast  improvement  has  been  made  in  Christian  work,  in  the 
development  of  Christian  enterprise,  since  this  church  was 
founded.  Iu  1809  there  were  only  five  church  members  among 
all  the  students  of  Yale.  There  were  four  infidel  clubs,  and 
there  were  many  students  who  went  by  the  name  of  French  and 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  171 


English  skeptics.     Last  year  Yale  graduated  two  hundred  and 
seven  men,   and   out  of  the  two  hundred  and  seven   men  one 
hundred  and  sixty-four  were  members  of  evangelical   churches. 
That  speaks  for  the  power  of  God  in  the  civilization  of  America. 
In  the  first  eight  years  of  Bowdoin  College  there  was  only  one 
Christian.     In  the  first  five  years  of  Williams  College  there  was 
only  one  church  member.  How  is  it  to-day  ?  Only  a  few  months 
ago  1362  students  of  Michigan  University  gave  their  religious 
impressions  and  their  religious  conditions,  and  out  of  the  1362, 
697  were  found  members  of  the  Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Con- 
gregational, Lutheran,  or  Baptist  churches— more  than  one-half. 
There  are  to-day  in  our  United  States  colleges  70,700  students, 
and  out  of  that  number  39,400  are  members  of  some  evangelical 
church— the  power  of   God  in  the  hearts  of  the  young  men. 
More  and  more   our  youth,    because  of  the  growing  power  of 
Christianity,  are  beginning  to  take  this  old  book  up  and  to  say, 
"  It  is  the  oracle  of  my  faith.    It  is  the  manual  of  my  education. 
It  is  the  inspiration  of  my  life.     It  is  the  charter  of  my  liberty." 
More  and  more  these  young  men  are  falling  down  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  saying  there  as  they  fall,  "My  Lord  and  my 
God."    If  you  and  I  will  only  stop  and  think,  we  can  thank  God 
that   during  the  history  of    this  church  there  have  been  such 
marvellous  developments  in  Christian  civilization.    Now,  taking 
the  matter  of  numbers— and   I  want  to  dwell  on  this  because 
there  are  so  many  pessimistic  declarations  to-day — let   me  give 
you  some  figures  that  will  encourage  you  as  you  go  into  the  new 
century.     In   1800,   less  than   one  hundred  years  ago,  we  find 
there  was  only  one  Christian  church  to  every  1750  people.       In 
1850  we  find  one  church  to  every  500,  in  round  numbers.     In 
1870,  one  church  to  every  450.     In  1890,  one  church  to  every 
436.     In  1895,  one  church  to  every  344  people.     Think  you,  in 
the  last  one  hundred  years  from  one  church  to  1750  people  to  one 
church  to  344  people !    Does  not  that  speak  wonders  for  the  devel- 
opment of  the  gospel  in  America  ?     You  and  I  think  our  popu- 
lation has  increased  wonderfully.     From  1800  to  1850  our  popu- 
lation increased  ninefold,  our  church   membership  twenty-eight 


172  Bi-centennial  Celebration  of  the 

fold.  From  1850  to  1890  our  population  gained  152  per  cent., 
our  church  membership  gained  243  per  cent.  When  this  church 
was  one  hundred  years  old  we  had  only  1400  ministers  in  Amer- 
ica. To-day  we  have  110,000  instead  of  1400.  Then  we  had 
only  2000  churches.  Now  we  have  147,000  churches.  Then 
we  had  only  200,000  communicants.  To-day  we  have  20,167,000. 
Whenever  I  get  to  be  a  little  pessimistic,  I  like  to  take  up  Dr. 
Carroll's  last  report  and  read  it  over,  and  though  there  may  not 
be  much  in  it  as  the  figures  express,  yet  they  do  give  encourage- 
ment and  inspiration  to  the  heart  of  a  man  who  believes  in  God 
and  looks  for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  What 
are  those  figures?  You  may  remember  them.  Ministers  in 
America,  110,000.  Churches  in  America,  142,000.  Organiza- 
tions in  America,  Christian,  167,000.  Communicants  in  Chris- 
tian churches  in  America,  20,100,000.  Sermons  preached  last 
year — would  you  not  like  to  have  heard  them  all? — 10,000,000. 
Services  held  in  Christian  churches  last  year  10,000,000 — inde- 
pendently of  all  the  Bible  school  sessions — and  to-day  $675,000,- 
000  invested  in  church  property,  with  a  Protestant  population  of 
47,000,000  and  a  Catholic  population  of  8,700,000,  and  we  are 
now  about  to  close  a  century  during  which  more  missionary 
boards  have  been  established,  more  missionaries  have  been  sent 
out,  more  converts  have  been  made  from  papal  and  pagan  and 
Moslem  communities,  more  Bibles  have  been  circulated  and  dis- 
tributed, more  rich  and  rare  trophies  brought  to  the  mediatorial 
cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  than  ever  before  in  all  the  one 
thousand  years  of  the  past;  so  much  so  that  men  are  beginning  to 
accept  the  statement  of  Schliermacher  when  he  says :  "  To  abolish 
Christianity  is  to  pluck  up  by  the  root  all  that  is  noblest  and  best 
and  wisest  in  the  world's  civilization."  As  you,  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  here,  and  my  people  in  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
step  upon  the  threshold  of  their  third  hundred  years,  I  want 
their  notes  to  be  these :  never  so  much  love  and  loyalty  to  Jesus 
Christ  as  to-day;  never  so  many  followers  of  the  humble  Naza- 
rene  as  to-day;  never  so  much  earnestness  in  understanding 
Jesus  as  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life  as  to-day  ;  never  such  an 


First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia.  173 

intelligent  appreciation  of  God's  Church  and  the  application  of 
that  spirit  to  the  great  and  mighty  problems  of  the  world  as 
to-day.  The  great  heart  of  the  Church,  pulsating  with  unusual 
velocity,  the  pure  fires  of  evangelism  burning  with  unwonted 
brilliancy  on  unnumbered  altars,  and  the  evidence  everywhere 
that  God  has  a  living  Church,  an  immortal  body  of  his  Church, 
and  that  living  Church  is  the  strength,  the  power,  the  inspiration, 
to  the  celestial  life  of  all  the  churches  named  after  Jesus  Christ. 
The  Atlantic  Monthly  and  Professor  Shodde  and  Professor 
Shopenhauer  and  other  men  may  talk  to  me  as  I  enter  the  third 
hundred  years  of  my  church's  life,  about  the  darkness,  about 
the  fog,  about  the  shipwreck,  but  under  God's  own  light  I  can 
stand  and  say: 

"I  know  not  where  his  islands  lift 

Their  fronded  palms  in  air; 
I  only  know  I  cannot  drift 

Beyond  his  love  and  care ; 
And  so  beside  the  silent  sea 

I  wait  the  muffled  oar: 
No  harm  from  him  can  come  to  me 

On  ocean  or  on  shore." 

For  "God's  in  his  heaven;  all's  right  with  the  world." 

The  motto  I  shall  give  to  my  people  on  December  1 1  will  be 
found  in  the  words  of  Whittier,  which  I  want  all  my  people  to 
learn  and  to  commit  and  to  repeat  during  the  next  year ;  and 
the  words  are  these : 

"Henceforth  my  heart  shall  sigh  no  more 
For  olden  times  or  holier  shore; 
God's  love  and  blessing  then  and  there 
Are  now  and  here  and  everywhere." 

God  give  us  this  optimistic  spirit  as  we  enter  the  third  hun- 
dred years  of  our  two  organizations. 

HYMN  390. 


174  Bi-centennial  Celebration. 

THE  PASTOR. 

Our  bi-centennial  celebration  will  come  to  its  close  to-morrow 
evening  with  a  reception  and  reunion  of  the  present  and  former 
members  of  this  church,  of  Presbyterians  generally  in  the  city, 
and  of  all  such  friends  as  may  choose  to  come  and  spend  the 
evening  with  us.  This  Church  will  be  opened  and  the  Memorial 
Building  will  be  opened.  There  will  be  room  for  all  who  may 
come,  and  I  hope  many  will  come. 

DOXOLOGY. 

BENEDICTION. 


WfW^Sf^W 


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